Wall Street major firms and private equity are competing for talent! New employees are required to report "job-hopping offers"

The talent war on Wall Street is escalating. Following investment banks like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley, Citigroup has also required junior analysts to disclose external job offers.

On July 21, according to media reports, Citigroup has begun requiring its newly hired investment banking analysts to disclose whether they have accepted job offers from other companies. This new rule, referred to as "attestation," aims to prevent private equity firms from poaching its carefully cultivated junior talent.

Citigroup's tightening of oversight on junior employees is closely related to its internal strategy to reshape its investment banking business.

The company is currently in a phase of building a new leadership team. Vis Raghavan, the head of banking who joined from JP Morgan last year, has recently hired several senior bankers from his former employer and Goldman Sachs, aiming to enhance Citigroup's business share with private market investors.

It is noteworthy that these private market investors are the very institutions actively poaching junior analysts from investment banks. Therefore, while Citigroup is working to establish closer business relationships with these companies, it must also protect its young talent pool, making its talent strategy particularly critical and complex.

Reports indicate that in recent years, private equity firms often lock in junior analysts' future work contracts just months after they join investment banks, with the expensive training costs borne by the investment banks.

Citigroup's approach echoes similar strategies from other major banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, marking a unified front on Wall Street to curb the trend of talent being "reserved" by buy-side firms early in their careers.

Increasingly Common Industry Practice

Citigroup is not alone. In fact, requiring junior employees to disclose external job offers is rapidly becoming standard practice among large investment banks on Wall Street.

According to reports, Goldman Sachs will require its newly hired analysts to confirm every three months whether they have accepted external job offers. JP Morgan has taken a more stringent approach, stating it will fire any analyst who accepts external job opportunities within 18 months of joining.

Morgan Stanley also introduced a policy in May of this year. Reports citing informed sources indicate that this policy requires junior bankers to immediately disclose any future job offers from outside the company. The source stated that analysts who do not comply with the regulations may be terminated.

These measures collectively form a defensive net aimed at increasing the barriers for junior analysts to switch jobs early, and are a direct response to the aggressive hiring practices of private equity firms over the years.

On one hand, in the face of collective pressure from investment banks, some private market companies have made gestures. For example, Apollo Global Management has stated that it will reduce such early hiring activities.

On the other hand, some investment banks are also exploring "carrot" retention strategies. In addition to implementing strict disclosure policies, Goldman Sachs is leveraging its own private market division as an attraction.

According to a memo from last week, Goldman Sachs plans to offer guarantees to a select group of interns that after working in the investment banking division for two years, they can transfer to its asset and wealth management division as an incentive to retain talent Risk Warning and Disclaimer

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