I just returned from a short trip to Hong Kong with the girlfriend, and I had a rather in-depth discussion about the investment banking analyst’s lifestyle in Hong Kong with a couple of friends who work in bulge brackets there. I think it’s interesting to compare and contrast the NY analyst lifestyle with that of the HK analyst. Here are some quick points off the top of my head that might surprise the NY analyst:
- The professional circle (banking/consulting/expat) is very small, so everyone knows about everything, e.g. if two people hook up at Prive on Saturday, everyone will know about it by Monday
- Karaoke is the default social activity
- Very little “culture” in the commercial sense – no MoMA, no Met, no indie concerts
- Crazier hours, but more $
- Less supervision from senior bankers in their work since there is less public information available to check the analysts’ numbers
- All correspondence is in Mandarin. Not limited to emails, since a lot of senior Chinese managers do not have Blackberries and thus rely on SMSes
- Bankers are kings in HK. They get first dibs on everything, from tables at Prive to tables in dimsum restaurants
Singapese 