Students prefer JPMorgan

Business students at universities in Europe have named JPMorgan as the investment bank they would most like to work for.

In a poll of 5,200 students at 100 universities, 7.5% said the bank was one of their favoured employers. It rose to 13th place in a ranking of employers in all industries, from 24th last year.

Goldman Sachs, the top investment bank last year in 9th place overall, fell to 14th place this time - one place below JPMorgan.

The survey was carried out by Universum, a research company. Other banks to make the list of top 50 employers were: Deutsche Bank in 21st place, Morgan Stanley in 27th place and Citigroup in 28th. CSFB was 30th, Merrill Lynch 34th, BNP Paribas 38th and UBS 39th.

HSBC and ABN Amro came 44th and 45th respectively.

L'Oreal, the cosmetics manufacturer, displaced McKinsey, the strategy consultancy, as business students' most popular destination. Nearly 15% wanted to work there.

Earlier this year a Universum survey of MBA students in the US found Citigroup was the most popular bank. Goldman was second, having been number one last year.

Another new European survey by Universum found that male students expect to earn more than females. A poll of 10,000 students in all disciplines showed men think they will get a starting salary of €31,660 euros on average, compared with €27,820 for females.

Women expect to work a 39.2 hour week, an hour-and-a-half less than men. They were more interested than men in international career opportunities, flexible working hours and secure employment, while men were drawn by high pay and responsibility.