IBD Finance

What is Investment Banking (IBD)?

IBD is an abbreviation for Investment Banking within the Public Investment Bank. IBD is responsible for working with companies, institutions, and governments to carry out capital raising (equity subscriptions, debt, mixed markets) as well as to carry out mergers, acquisitions and various types of advisory authorizations.

Other Divisions of the Investment Bank

Within the investment bank, there is a clear line between the Investment Banking (IBD) department and other areas of the bank such as

• Equity Research
• Sales & Trade
• Commercial Banking
• Asset Management
• Retail Banking, and other areas

All the above functions are considered "front office" jobs (think: facing the customer). In addition to front office jobs in an investment bank, there are also "middle office" jobs such as operations, technology and human resources. Finally, there are also "back office" functions such as accounting, payroll, technical support, etc.

Not everyone who works in an investment bank is an investment banker

If someone says they "work in investment banking," they should refer to an international investment bank within an investment bank, although people often claim to work in investment banking when they don't have a job in that department.

For this reason, real investment bankers are clear about the fact that they work at the International Development Bank.

Not everyone who works in an investment bank is an investment banker.

To learn more about the skills required in the Investment Banking section, launch our investment banking courses!

Industry groups with IBD

IBD is divided into industrial groups. The most common groups are:

• Information and Communication Technology (TMT)
• Financial Institutions Group (FIG)
• energy
• mining
• Health care
• Industries
• Realstates

Job Titles in Investment Banking (IBD)

There is a standard hierarchy within IBD that is almost the same in most banks. Titles and career path in most banks are as follows:

• Analyst–focuses exclusively on financial modeling, valuation work and support for presentation writers
• Associate - manages analysts
•  and also makes models and drafts of presentation books
• Vice President–Conducts Associates, designs presentation books and goes to client meetings
• Manager - meets with clients, leads deals, leads the team
• Managing Director–Focuses almost exclusively on gaining new business/clients

To learn more about compensation at each level, see the Investment Banking Payroll Guide.

Additional Resources

This was the CFI's guide to how to structure investment banks and hopefully shed some light on what exactly it means to be in IBD. To continue learning and developing your career, we highly recommend these additional resources:

• What do investment bankers do?
• Investment Banking Interview Questions
• Equity Research vs. Investment Banking
• Financial Modeling Guide

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