Investment Banking Assessment Centers - An Overview

Investment Banking Assessment centres are simply extended periods of interviews organised by London investment banks, and held at specific locations (such as a hotel, or in the bank itself). Those interviews can include numerical and verbal exercises, case studies, and more traditional face to face interviews, either in group or individually, often both. Assessment centers are targeted at small groups of candidates that have already passed online numerical and verbal tests, and that have also usually passed a first round of phone interviews.

Investment Banking recruiters use assessment centres in addition to the application, online tests and traditional interviews to find out how the candidates react and perform in variety of "real-life" situations that are similar to what you will encounter as an investment banker. For example, group presentations are situations you will often face as a banker presenting to clients; similarly, the numerical and verbal tests are designed to test your ability to handle complex financial models and large amount of data under time pressure.

What should I expect?

Interviewers will judge you on your overall performance at various tasks and make a decision. Therefore, you need to be quite balanced and do well at most of the taks, which is indeed difficult. Assessment centers can only last one day (morning to evenings), or be spread over several days. In the large majority of cases, it will include the following:

Re-take of aptitude tests: The first task when you arrive will be to retake verbal reasoning and numerical reasoning tests. Even if you have taken those tests online previously, the bank will ask participants to take those tests again, to confirm your previous results. They are usually paper-based and can be slightly more difficult than the online version, or longer. The best way to practice is going on the SHL website and try the sample exams. If you check on Google, you might be able to find a few other samples and free tests too. If you find SHL tests very difficult, it may be worth buying some of their guides. My advice is to try all the easy questions first, and come back to the hardest one later.

1st Assignment and Case StudyThis is often a quite standard assignment, in which you will be asked to prepare a presentation in group or individually on a banking-related topic. For example, you could be provided with a case study that includes extensive information on several companies, and be asked to present and decide on which one should merge and why. You will also be askedd to create a SWOT analysis. Those exercises can be Individual or in Group, oral or written. The best way to prepare is to read finance publications regularly and simply use common sense! You should also be familiar on how to use powerpoint and with basic excel. Ask Ivy also has a comprehensive case study (3 case studies and a SWOT analysis to practice) preparation guide for sale on this website.

2nd Assigment: this will be similar to the first assignment, except that this topic will not be finance related. If the first one was individual, the this one will be in group, and vice versa. It will usually be a logic problem requiring you to make logicval assumption and demonstrate some judgment. You could be asked for ways to sell a bikes, or how you would organise an event. This is essentially to test your common sense and ability to think logically, and also, if this is a group exercise, your ability to work in teams.

Interviews: Those usually come at the end of the process, right after lunch or on the following day. Some banks choose to cut people from the process before going to the interview stage. Those will be interviews from senior investment bankers, Associates, Vice Presidents and even Managing Directors. Bankers will test your motivation and your answers to "Why Investment Banking", "Why our firm" , test your understanding of finance and also try to find out about your personality and whether this fits with the bank's culture. The best way to prepare is to practice answering the two questions above, practice some brainteasers, research the banks well, and just be natural.

What about my expenses?

Banks will cover travel expenses, accomodation expenses and meals, subject to a maximum cap.

What should I wear?

You you wear business formal suits at all times. Dress to impress, but be conservative. Don't try to stand out by wearing unusual colours or fancy suits. Essentially, dress as you would expect bankers to dress: black shoes, dark suits, conservative shirts and ties or conservative business dress for women. If you are not sure about the interview process, Ask Ivy published a comprehensive Investment Banking Interview Guide.

Is the process a competition between students?

While the process itself is competitive, you should not see yourself as competing with your fellow candidates.While interviewers will compare candidates, trying to be aggressive towards other candidates is the best way to be eliminated. Therefore do not feel obligated to criticise each other or play any tricks, this will only damage your reputation among the students (many of who will become bankers in the City, future colleagues and bosses), but also your reputation among investment banks as Recruiters of different banks do talk to each others.

If you require additional help for your applications, Ask Ivy provides application and CV review services