Pros
Competitive base salaries and commission payout ( If you are producing, you get paid hard commission unlike most Bulge Bracket where base pay is similar but you end up with a donut due to poor overall performance ) Smart colleagues Ok benefits ( no employer pension scheme in the UK yet but decent health and medical ) Growing ( a lot of interesting acquisitions that makes you feel that you are part of a growing bank that is going somewhere ) Company is doing well which inspires pride in employees
Cons
Can be a bit flat ( i.e promotions are hard to come by ) No annual salary increase ( although, you get paid hard commission so most likely, base pay isn't that relevant ) Not as big of a deal flow as other banks ( although this is improving ) Some weak benefits ( pension ) but are getting better Integration of acquisitions sometimes takes time, try incorporating new colleagues with old ones to create familiarity across departments ( and colleagues ) and try gathering under one roof ( which seems to be the plan ).