Pros
It provides a job in investment banking, which is alot to say given the current economy. After working at Lehman Brothers, its a relief to have a job given the current economy. However, the firm is still having internal issues over reintegrating itself after the split from our European divisions. Currently the firm is trying to unofficially poach key talent from the overseas London office to re-establish a European platform. This is creating chaos within the division as we are now working without the support of some of the overseas platforms we previously had. Fortunately, our New York strategy seems to be more focused on building business within the United States then focusing on cross border transactions.
Cons
It is still having difficulties integrating itself with the Lehman Brothers culture. I think it is just a difficult time in Wall Street in general and there is now downside that is specific to Barclays in particular. These are issues that the entire industry is having to deal with, and given the fragile state of the markets and global economy, uncertainty is a one must deal with. The downsides would most definitely be low morale, lack of job security and stress due to a drop in deal flow. I think the culture will be vastly different within one year inside of the firm given the change of economic conditions.