"The Pulse" -- #86 / Banks ❤️ Private Credit

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: Jefferies, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and 7 others opened their summer 2026 apps. 59 firms are actively recruiting for summer 2026 positions

• Every bulge bracket bank has posted its application. Don’t be fooled by long-dated deadlines, interviews are already happening across the Street. See our ‘Learning Point’ for an updated timeline of the banking / consulting / buyside recruiting processes

New SA 2026 Applications:

• Jefferies: Large bank focused on the middle market (SA 2026)

• Bank of America: Bulge bracket (SA 2026)

• Citi: Bulge bracket, some operational concerns recently (SA 2026)

• Morgan Stanley: Wall Street-focused bulge bracket (SA 2026)

• Capital One: Very new IB division (SA 2026)

• Truist: Large commercial / consumer bank, middle market focus (SA 2026)

• CIBC: Large Canadian bank (SA 2026)

• Lloyds Banking Group: Huge UK presence (SA 2026)

• Texas Capital Bank: Regional bank (SA 2026)

• SMBC: Middle market Japanese bank (SA 2026)

See below to gain access to our premium database, updated weekly, which houses the application processes for over 300+ banks/consulting/buyside firms! Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

• 57 SA 2025 applications have been released along with 65 FT 2025 apps. This process is complete with the exception of firms hiring for one-off associate roles.

• 2026 Recruiting has started but is in the very early days. There are 2 open applications–we don’t expect additional apps to open for a few months

SA 2025 released apps:

• Capital One: Business Analyst Intern (SA 2025)

FT 2025 released apps:

• Capital One: Business Analyst (FT 2025)

• Capital Performance Group: Business Analyst (FT 2025)

• Sherpa Technology Group, tech consulting: Analyst (FT 2025)

SA 2026 released apps:

• None

Apply ASAP if you’re interested!

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: General Atlantic, CBRE, Audax and 2 others opened their SA 2026 applications. Currently 39 buyside firms are recruiting for SA 2026 seats 

New SA 2026 released apps:

• General Atlantic: Large growth equity shop (SA 2026)

• CBRE: Commercial real estate brokerage (SA 2026)

• Audax: Boston-based elite PE shop (SA 2026)

• Evergreen Services Group: ESG-focused PE (SA 2026)

• Brown Brothers Harriman: Middle market PE (SA 2026)

The database is updated weekly and contains 300+ Investment Banking and Consulting internships/full-time positions along with:

• Interview tips for specific companies

• Interview prep material

• Applications and deadlines linked so that you can apply with one click

• Insider information about the application process

• Professionals to network with

• Buyside deadlines, interview prep, and people to network with for the sweatiest of students

We send the updated dataset every week with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 86th update today.

Students we have been helping have already landed roles at Blackstone, Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Solomon.

To get access to the database and the weekly updates, you pay a one-time fee of $65 Credit Card / Debit Card: (ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com) that grants you annual access to the updated database (please reach out for additional payment options). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $65.

This is a small investment for a huge payout when you secure your dream offer!

Video of Premium Database——>The Pulse Database Video

Market Update:

Banks ❤️ Private Credit

The other day I saw an incredibly interesting table within my latest favorite newsletter: Credit Crunch.

All you read about in the news is that private credit is up next and that private credit is taking market share from banks within the traditional lending business. While there are some truths to that, it’s a much more complex dynamic.

We have previously written about banks and private credit here: "The Pulse" -- #24 and here: "The Pulse" --#71 / Banks vs. Private Credit. So, I will avoid the basics.

Today, we strictly focus on the partnerships between banks and private credit firms to discover:

a). Why these make sense

b). Why scale and relationship in credit mean everything

c). What happens if regulation does a 180 and restores power to the banks

-Why Bank + PC Partnerships Make Sense-

First, these partnerships were born out of fear of heightened capital restraints on banks due to Basel III Endgame: "The Pulse" --#30.

As a result, banks formed these partnerships to secure fees and de-risking of their balance sheets. I wrote thoroughly about the asset-liability structures of banks vs. private credit funds here: "The Pulse" --#71 / Banks vs. Private Credit. The general idea is that private credit funds are better poised to assume the risk associated with lending, when holding it on balance sheet as an investment (HFI).

So, what’s ultimately happening here— in some form or another —is that banks are originating loans and quickly distributing that risk back to the partnered private credit fund. By doing this, a bank can generate origination fees and retain client relationships to facilitate other fee-based business (payments, M&A, etc) all while distributing any risk to a separate entity: the partnered private credit fund.

Banks can facilitate these partnerships via structures such as forward-flow programs or synthetic risk transfers. Now, I do want to note that the structures of these partnerships are likely very different from player to player. For example, I’d love to break down the level of activity stemming from the BMO / Oakhill partnership when compared to the Citi / Apollo partnership.

BMO isn’t really a trailblazer in the U.S. leveraged finance markets. Also, Oakhill tends to be more of an opportunistic player vs. a direct lender.

Nevertheless, the partnership exists. For the private credit funds, these partnerships allow them to deploy more capital underwritten by strong bank partners. It also allows them to break free from the shackles of the sponsor-backed direct lending market.

Nearly 80% of businesses are not owned by private equity (non-sponsored).

Historically, private credit funds haven’t had good access to these businesses. Working with banks allows them to unlock access to non-sponsor backed direct lending opportunities where they can price better deals and negotiate stronger credit docs. A good example of this is the Wells Fargo / Centerbridge relationship—specifically formed to give Centerbridge access to non-sponsor backed direct lending opportunities.

-Why Scale and Relationship in Credit Mean Everything-

Bigger, better, faster, stronger.

Asset management consolidation is heating up. Blackrock recently acquired HPS, Ares bought GLP, and Stonepeak bought Boundary Street Capital. This all happened in the last 3 months. $ billions of transaction volume as firms realize that scale in credit matters.

Scale allows a credit manager to observe a wider swath of deals, form deeper relationships, and deploy more capital. Capital is a commodity. In private credit, the best way to compete is by being quick and offering the best terms (cheaper debt, looser docs).

You can’t typically offer the best terms if you don’t sit on mountains of capital. In the same light, the formula to lose in credit is getting bullied to commit more capital to riskier deals because you have limited relationships to facilitate deal flow.

By being huge and forming relationships with banks, you can open up your pipeline to ensure you see multiples of more deals to mitigate that selection risk. If terms are too shitty, you can walk away.

Lastly, who can cough up $ billions for a single transaction? You want to be that guy.

Why? Larger companies are typically more stable, cash-flowing enterprises making them better counterparties to lend to with regards to credit risk. By being huge, you can commit $ billions in a single transaction and not get completely stiffed with concentration risk.

-What Happens if the Tide Turns for Banks-

Lately, Basel III Endgame proposals are back in contention. People are whispering that the new administration with its deregulatory mindset may rewind the strict capital requirements proposed in Basel III Endgame.

If that happens, will banks sever their relationships with private credit funds?

No. Why? Because relationship in credit matters! Also, some risk is never meant to be held by banks.

If Basel III was rolled back, players like Citi wouldn’t terminate its private credit partnership with Apollo. Apollo is probably one of Citi’s premier clients as Citi likely provides financing for many of Apollo’s LBOs generated via its private equity business. If Citi broke the private credit relationship, Apollo’s PE business would likely walk down the street to get money from a different bank. Relationship matters.

However, banks would certainly make a push to reclaim a chunk of their direct lending business. Loans generate great ROE for banks when they don’t need to hold 50-100% of capital reserves against the total size of the lend.

Banks and private credit funds are frenemies. 

Before you go:

I leave you with this redacted table of the evolving lending landscape:

We wrote about the love affair between alternative asset managers and insurance here: "The Pulse" --#67 / Why Private Equity Loves Insurance.

The lending landscape is rapidly evolving as asset managers race to become the largest lenders with the widest deal flow and cheapest underlying capital. 

Disclosure: Nothing written here is financial advice or should be used for investment decisions.

SA 2026 Banking / Consulting / Buyside Timelines Update

If your club has recently participated in our ‘Bulk Coaching’ sessions, then you’d be caught up to speed here (reach out to [email protected] for more).

Let’s start with Banking / Buyside:

Virtually every name brand firm has opened its application over the last month. The next step is interviewing.

Confirmed that interviews are being conducted at places such as Houlihan Lokey, Guggenheim, M. Klein, and William Blair. I’m sure many others as well.

Right now, you need to be grinding interview prep from behaviorals → technicals. If you got the call, you should be able to crush an interview tomorrow. Check out our Coaching if you need some support (95%+ placement rate: Coaching Detail)

Onto Consulting:

Consulting timelines are later than banking and the buyside. I’m not sure why. It’s an equally competitive field, the firms are just happier to recruit later.

Do they lose good talent to students locking up banking / buyside offers? Yeah, they do. Regardless, if consulting is your squeeze, you have some time but as you can see the heat of the recruiting cycle will come quickly.

The bulk of your networking should have been taken care of by now.

Going Forward:

If you run a club, we want to connect with you to prep your members for interview season. Please shoot us an email @[email protected], would love to make your club the most prepared on campus

Please reach out to us with any questions about recruiting or if you’re interested in meeting the team! ([email protected])

We are happy to chat, review resumes, or help set up a coaching session

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“The Pulse” #86