Debt Capital Markets interview preparation

Bond mechanics, duration, credit spreads, ratings, primary issuance, syndicated loans, structured credit, covenants and liability management, plus the Indian debt market. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
45
Firms
26
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsTruist Securities5PIMCO4TD Securities4Apollo Global Management3Nomura3Scotiabank3Bain Capital2Houlihan Lokey2Mizuho2Neuberger Berman2Oaktree Capital Management2RBC Capital Markets2Carlyle Group1Deutsche Bank1Golub Capital1HPS Investment Partners1Invesco1KKR1Lazard1Moelis & Company1Moody's1Northern Trust1Nuveen1Rothschild & 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
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  1. 020What is SOFR, and where is it right now?Yield curve and ratesCorephone / first roundBain CapitalGeneralist · Boston · 2023

    Say this

    SOFR is the Secured Overnight Financing Rate — the volume-weighted rate on overnight Treasury repo, published by the New York Fed. It replaced USD LIBOR as the floating benchmark for loans and derivatives. Quote the current level with the date, because it tracks the Fed's target range almost exactly.

    Then walk it

    1. It is secured and transaction-based, which is the whole point. LIBOR was an unsecured rate based on submitted estimates, which is what made it manipulable and what killed it.
    2. Because it is secured, SOFR sits slightly below where unsecured bank funding would, and it carries no bank credit component. That is why loan documents add a credit spread adjustment, historically around 10 to 26 basis points depending on tenor, when they transitioned from LIBOR.
    3. Loan markets use Term SOFR, a forward-looking 1, 3 or 6 month rate, because borrowers need to know their coupon at the start of the period. Derivatives mostly use compounded overnight SOFR in arrears.
    4. Where to find the number: the New York Fed publishes SOFR every morning at 8am Eastern, and CME publishes Term SOFR. Know today's level and the Fed's target range, and say them with the date.
    5. The quirk worth knowing: SOFR spikes at quarter and year end when repo balance sheets tighten. The September 2019 repo blowup is the extreme case, and it is why the Fed built the standing repo facility.
    6. How to answer if you genuinely do not know the level: say the mechanism, say it tracks the effective fed funds rate within a few basis points, and say the target range. Never guess a precise number.

    Where candidates lose it

    Not knowing the current level. This is a five-second check on whether you follow markets, and on a credit desk where every loan coupon is SOFR plus a spread, not knowing it is disqualifying. Refresh it the morning of the interview, and say it with the date.

    Expect next

    • Why did LIBOR get replaced?
    • What is the credit spread adjustment?
    • What is the difference between Term SOFR and SOFR compounded in arrears?

    Reported by candidates at Bain Capital (Generalist, Boston, 2023). 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.