Debt Capital Markets interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

45

Firms

26

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsTSTruist Securities5PIMCO4TD Securities4Apollo Global Management3Nomura3Scotiabank3Bain Capital2Houlihan Lokey2Mizuho2Neuberger Berman2Oaktree Capital Management2RCRBC Capital Markets2Carlyle Group1Deutsche Bank1Golub Capital1HPS Investment Partners1Invesco1KKR1Lazard1Moelis & Company1Moody's1Northern Trust1NUNuveen1Rothschild & Co1S&P Global1Wells Fargo Securities1

Topic

All topicsBond mechanics11Duration and convexity6Yield curve and rates5Credit spreads5Credit analysis and ratings13Credit modelling9Primary issuance9Syndication and loans10Structured credit7Covenants and documentation5Liability management5Indian debt markets7Fit8

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalBrainteaserMarket viewCaseFit

1. 084What were the most important recent developments in the debt markets?Liability managementIntermediateevery roundRothschild & CoRestructuring · London · 2025

   Say this

   Pick three themes and attach a number to each rather than listing headlines. The ones that have actually reshaped the market: private credit taking share from syndicated lending, the maturity wall from 2021-vintage deals being refinanced at much higher coupons, and the normalisation of liability management exercises as the default path instead of Chapter 11.

   Then walk it

   1. Private credit: growth to well over a trillion dollars of assets, now competing for multi-billion dollar financings, with banks partnering as much as competing. The interesting second-order effect is that less collateral reaches the broadly syndicated loan market, which squeezes CLO formation.
   2. The refinancing wall: companies that borrowed at very low spreads in 2020 and 2021 have been refinancing at coupons several hundred basis points higher. Interest coverage has compressed sharply at the weaker end of the leveraged universe even where spreads look tight, which is why default rates rose while spreads did not widen much.
   3. Liability management as the default: drop-downs, uptiers and double-dip structures have moved from exotic to routine, so restructuring increasingly happens out of court through document capacity. Recovery outcomes have become more dispersed and first lien recoveries have fallen well below the historic 70 percent norm.
   4. Then whichever is live when you interview: the tone of central bank policy and what the curve is pricing, any repricing of credit spreads against historically tight levels, the growth of the private asset-backed and significant risk transfer market, and issuance volumes versus last year.
   5. Then take a view rather than just describing. Something like: I think the credit cycle is being expressed in recovery severity rather than default frequency, which is unusual, and it means documentation analysis matters more than macro.
   6. The discipline: check your numbers the morning of the interview, and never quote a figure you cannot source. A confidently wrong spread level is worse than saying roughly where things sit.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reciting headlines with no numbers and no consequence for the desk. Pick three themes, one number each, and one implication. And tailor the lead to the seat — a restructuring interviewer wants the liability management story, not a summary of Fed policy.

   Expect next

   • Why have recoveries fallen if default rates are manageable?
   • Is the private credit market a risk to the system?
   • Where are high yield spreads versus their long-run average?

   Reported by candidates at Rothschild & Co (Restructuring, London, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.