Investment Banking Interview Blog

The debt maturity wall explained: how much US leveraged loan and high yield debt comes due, why it keeps moving, and what refinancing means for bankers.

Operating leverage explained: fixed vs variable costs, the degree of operating leverage formula, breakeven, and why EBIT swings faster than revenue.

Dividend discount model explained: the Gordon growth and multi-stage forms, where each input comes from, and why banks and utilities are valued this way.

Stock vs cash consideration in M&A: why buyers pick each, fixed versus floating exchange ratios, how collars work, and the interview traps.

Japan M&A is booming: how the Tokyo exchange's cost of capital push, METI's takeover rules and a take-private wave reshaped the deal market.

Credit analysis ratios explained: leverage, coverage, cash flow and liquidity, with rating band ranges, add-back and lease traps, and a worked example.

What are your strengths in an investment banking interview: the strengths banks hire for, a pick-prove-connect framework, and four sample answers.

The mental math shortcuts investment banking interviews actually test: percentage tricks, multiples, margins, the rule of 72, and IRR from MOIC.

Cost of equity and CAPM explained: what each input means, where analysts get the risk-free rate, equity risk premium and beta, and the interview traps.

Spring weeks are the UK front door into investment banking: who is eligible, which banks run them, the 2027 timeline, and how they convert.

How to read a credit agreement like a banker: definitions, facilities, pricing, prepayments, covenants, baskets, defaults, and the loopholes behind LMEs.