QUESTION:

In IB you often face conflicts of interest, sometimes it's better for the client to not carry out a transaction even though your fees would be smaller. How would you advise him and why?

ANSWER GIVEN:

I would tell him the pros and cons based upon thorough thinking and analysis and would state an honest opinion despite receiving lower fee income on this deal and hoping for a follow-up mandate and an overall improved client relationship on a sustainable basis.

QUESTION:

Do you think you can handle the tough IB environment with 15h, somtimes even 20h work days?

ANSWER GIVEN:

Yes, and I have proved this before to an extent. I graduated top-of my class in college whilst studying a second language, being member of diverse organizations at Uni.

QUESTION:

How much do you think you will make here?

ANSWER GIVEN:

I think fix between € 55k - 60k plus bonus of 50-100%. (Note, I should not have said € 55k-60k but just give one figure. This question resulted for me in receiving an offer for € 55k, which had to be renegotiated after receiving one from another bank. Also note, we are talking 80 hour workweek. Starting salary in Germany for an average 40 hour week is around € 45k. with a total of € 100k, taking into consideration that parts is not fixed, you are not asking for too much!)

QUESTION:

There are 200 bottles in a basement. 1% is white wine, the other is red wine. How many bottles do you need to drink to raise the proportion such that it's 2% of white wine?

ANSWER GIVEN:

Two solutions: you have 198 red wine and two white. Either drink 100 red and you have 98 red and 2 white. Or, better, drink 1 white and 149 red, you end up with 49 red, one white, hence the correct proportion and you are even more hammered.

QUESTION:

how do you get from EV to equity value?

ANSWER GIVEN:

EV minus net debt, taking trapped cash into account, minus unfunded pension obligations, minus other obligations (tax) and finance leases, minus minority interest and adding back associates. Basically I deduct everything that gets my money between EV/EBIT and P/E multiples.

QUESTION:

What do you think about the M&A landscape?

ANSWER GIVEN:

Well, in the FT it says it's not so good, but only large cap, you guys are doing mid-cap, so you should be fine according to this. which is why I wanna work here...

We cannot guarantee the authenticity of these questions nor the accuracy of the answers: they are what one candidate claims to have been asked by Credit Suisse and have not been verified by the bank.