There are plenty of resources online for preparing for an investment banking interview but almost nothing on preparing for a corporate banking interview. This article will change that.

So if HSBC calls you and says you are being invited in for an interview next week for a corporate banking role in Markham, you do not have a lot of time if you do not know where to start.

Review Our Corporate Banking and Commercial Banking Guides

Read all our guides on corporate banking and commercial banking as well as the following relevant topics.

Commercial banking is functionally the same as corporate banking and the product is the same.

The difference is that commercial banking means lending money for a profit and corporate banking means lending money for a profit ideally but also lending as a loss leader to anchor the banking relationship to sell other products such as debt capital markets or investment banking.

Review Our Corporate Banking Interview Guide

Understand credit metrics and be able to answer all of the corporate banking interview questions.

OK, now you are already way ahead of 95% of other interviewees.

Review a Credit Agreement from SEDAR

Download a credit agreement from SEDAR and familiarize yourself with the documents that corporate bankers deal with. Pick companies that you follow and look for Other Material Contracts. For US listed companies credit agreements will sometimes be included in the 10K/Annual Reports off EDGAR.

The most important sections for corporate bankers are the Definitions (how do you define EBITDA in the context of this agreement?), Pricing (or applicable margin – how much will you get paid), and covenants (are they standard for this type of company with this type of leverage? What are the positive covenants? What are the financial covenants that will keep the bank safe?). The rest of the sections are more for lawyers and documentation groups to argue over with the client.

Review a Credit Report

Find a credit report from Moody’s S&P or DBRS. Usually the internal ratings will line up to some extent to the Moody’s or S&P methodology depending on the industry covered. For instance if Moody’s looks at EV to EBITDAX for oil and gas your bank will likewise have that incorporated in the risk rating model. You can download the methodologies for each industry by opening a free account on any of the Moody’s or S&P websites.

If Moody’s has a company map out to BBB+, your bank’s risk rating model will likely not be that far off. If Interest Coverage of 8x is considered A rated for S&P you might find it easier to get this loan across the line.

Understand the Corporate Banking Role

Figure out whether you are interviewing for a relationship management front office corporate banking job or a credit underwriting or portfolio management middle office role. Obviously you want to work in the pure corporate banking role which is relationship focused and pays more within the investment bank. Most US banks split the functions into corporate banking and corporate counterparty credit but some banks have both components merged into one to save money. At RBC this is called Credit and Transaction Management or global credit, at TD it is called counterparty credit and at Scotia it is the Credit Analytics Group.

If you are interviewing for front office be sure to look at corporate banking as a sales platform for the broader investment banking product suite.

Review a Corporate Presentation

Read corporate presentations in the investor section of companies in the industry you are interviewing for. This is in the investor relations section of company websites.

Review Major Corporate Loans

Find out what some major corporate loans have been recently where the bank you are interviewing for was recently a mandated lead arranger or joint lead arranger (MLA JLA). You can find this on Bloomberg via LEAG <GO> under syndicated loans. Try to know the characteristics of the loan.

Review our Industry Primers

Read as much as you can about the industry via our primers.