I don't know what is considered Tier 1 or 2 IB. All I know is that RHB-OSK merger will create the largest investment bank (by assets) and the biggest stockbroking firm in Malaysia (the pole position may be fluid depending how the integration process is managed) when the merger is completed.

http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/highlights/...hb-osk-ib-.html

Of course, in M'sia - CIMB is commonly-regarded as the leader in local IB scene. One cannot compare local IBs with foreign bulge-bracket IBs as they do not have IB operations such as CF/ECM/etc in Msia (due to "protectionism") with staff based full-time in M'sia, but a few of them have some securities/research activities locally. Please note the winds of change is re-shaping the global finance scene...Asian banks are going to benefit from the Western countries' woes and you will see the changes in the next decade or so.

This post has been edited by chabalang: Aug 25 2012, 09:34 PM

Normally, I would not bother to respond but there is a need to clarify "Thier asseets are entirely made up of employees and furinture & fittings. That's it.". If IBs only have employees and furniture & fittings as their assets, the sub-prime crisis in 2008 will have much smaller impact or "may not even happen at all" (I do not wish to dabble into the leveraging part and repeal of Glass-Steagall Act)

Please check the following links: http://ycharts.com/companies/GS/assets and http://ycharts.com/companies/MS/assets. GS - nearly USD1 trillion and MS -USD749 billion of assets as at 2Q12 (btw, staff are not part of balance sheet). Yes, talents are KEY in IBs but size and scale DO matter. IB work is not only pure advisory work - there are other aspects of IB operations that require capital & $$$l.

As for your "bashing" of the local IBs, I am just wondering whether are you currently working or have worked in investment banking? Of course, local IBs do not have the global outreach of foreign IBs but Msia local big IBs are NOT bad as you make them sound (do you know how much CIMB and MayBank (under TZ) are paying for senior staff/ top performers?) Do you know which IBs are the global coordinators and book runners for the world's second and third largest IPOs in 2012 (until July 2012)? Yes, you may call them "jaguh kampung" but Msia IBs are not too bad on an Asean scale... it will take time to build up, at least I can see them up and coming in the Asean region.

If TS is genuinely offering an opportunity, why not? (even though I do not endorse 100-hour week) Not everyone can get the opportunity to get into bulge bracket IBs and the opportunity is even rarer in Msia (BTW, GS does an office in Msia at Menara Maxis since it has fund mgt/corporate finance advisory license in Msia but most of the deals in the region are still done from Spore and HK).

This post has been edited by chabalang: Aug 26 2012, 10:21 PM

Yes, I agree with your point (at least I know that you are well aware of IB operations). Local IBs tend to "piggy back" on the whole financial group's balance sheet. That's why OSK need to merge with RHB to ride on RHB Capital balance sheet. Yes, local IBs' balance sheets are relatively Small compared to their commercial banking arm but they are still in billions. The purpose for my two earlier posts was to show that asset size (either on IB standalone or as a group) do play a part, and RHB with OSK will not be small in M'sia and will have better regional outreach.