V10 Banking Hours—slowing down as rates raise? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm an incoming associate at a v10 banking group and I'm wondering how busy things have been, and are likely to be if the fed continues to put the brakes on. I heard 2020 and 2021 were nightmarish, and I'm curious if things are settling down or are likely to as rates raise, M&A activity slows, etc. If you could be specific as to what you've been billing compared to a year ago or so, that would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous User]

6th year in banking group.

2017 - 1880 billable
2018 - 2220 billable
2019 - 2500 billable
2020 - 2530 billable
2021 - 2240 billable
2022 - ~1200 annualized

[Anonymous User]

Our banking associates are starting to do regular corporate deals to beef up their hours. Our regulatory folks seem the same level of busy as usual.

[Anonymous User]

6th year in banking group.

2017 - 1880 billable
2018 - 2220 billable
2019 - 2500 billable
2020 - 2530 billable
2021 - 2240 billable
2022 - ~1200 annualized

Yikes, cause for concern for a 3L banking direct hire?

[Anonymous User]

Our banking associates are starting to do regular corporate deals to beef up their hours. Our regulatory folks seem the same level of busy as usual.

This would be best case scenario for me, I guess unless the economy goes down the tubes...

[Anonymous User]

Banking associate checking in from a non-US market. My hours are about the same as last year (annualizing roughly 1950). A few factors to consider: (i) M&A is slow at the moment, which impacts the flow of acquisition financing work, (ii) while interest rates are rising, they're still historically low and attractive to borrowers (I don't think anyone sees us getting back to pandemic level rates anytime soon), (iii) bankruptcy work is expected to pick up this year, which will generate some banking work, (iv) the busiest quarter for any banking associate is almost always Q4, and (v) even in the absence of new credit facilities, there's a ton of refinancing/extension/amendment work that needs to be done for all those facilities that were set up when rates were super low.

[Anonymous User]

6th year in banking group.

2017 - 1880 billable
2018 - 2220 billable
2019 - 2500 billable
2020 - 2530 billable
2021 - 2240 billable
2022 - ~1200 annualized

Yikes, cause for concern for a 3L banking direct hire?

No. I'm getting crushed again as of April. Q1 was nice I miss it.

[Anonymous User]

Mid-senior level banking associate just outside v10. No sign of slowdown in my group. We do mostly PE work. 2400 last year, annualizing around 2400 so far this year. Everybody keeps saying the pipeline is drying up but then it doesn’t.

[Anonymous User]

People are slow in finance? I'm putting the brakes on staffing requests -- and pissing off my group in the process -- to stay at a 2000 pace.

[Anonymous User]

People are slow in finance? I'm putting the brakes on staffing requests -- and pissing off my group in the process -- to stay at a 2000 pace.

Banking can mean a lot of things. For instance, my firm's banking practice is 40% M&A/15% CM/45% regulatory.