The 10 top boutique investment banks, and what they pay

efinancialcareers.com:

For investment banks, 2024 has quite suddenly roared into life. Some of the best placed to take advantage of the engine finally firing up are the boutique banks. But what are they?

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A boutique (investment) bank is one that has a very specific focus – usually in M&A or restructuring. They employ much fewer people than a bulge bracket or middle market bank, and are usually competing with the former for top talent. They tend to pay even better than the big banks, too.

Courtesy of figures from market intelligence firm Dealogic, we’ve sorted 10 of the biggest and best (paying) boutique investment banks by deal volume – that is, the total volume of investment banking activity they advised on – in the first half of 2024. We’ve also included some of our own research to give you an idea of pay at the firm.

Once again, Evercore was the biggest boutique bank in the world in the first half of 2024. It advised on $203bn worth of deals, more than most full-service banks, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citi. Revenues have been up as a consequence, by around 18% so far this year compared to the first half of 2023. As a consequence, the bank is on track to pay over $720k per head in 2024. 

Centerview was the second-biggest boutique investment bank according to Dealogic, advising on $132bn worth of deals. Privately owned, it doesn’t post global figures for either revenue or pay – but its UK subsidiary, for the year ending the 31^st of March 2023, paid its staff an average of £413k ($527k) per head. Given the bounce back in revenue seen across the industry, 2024 pay is likely much, much higher than that.

PJT was the third-biggest boutique bank, according to Dealogic. Like