Investment Banking interview preparation
Every question below is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it. Answers are written the way you would actually say them out loud — answer first, then the mechanism, then the limitation.
100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them
- Questions
- 100
- Traced to a firm
- 100
- Firms
- 46
- Updated
- September 2026
047How are current macroeconomic conditions affecting the M&A market?Deutsche BankInvestment Banking · Boston · 2025Perella Weinberg PartnersInvestment Banking · Houston · 2025
Say this
Work the chain from rates to deal volume: the cost and availability of debt sets what sponsors can pay, valuation gaps between buyers and sellers set whether processes clear, and confidence in forecasts sets whether boards will commit at all.
Then walk it
- Rates first. Financing cost sets the sponsor's maximum entry multiple directly, because the deal has to service the debt. Higher rates compress what leverage can support.
- Then the bid-ask spread. Sellers anchor on the multiple they could have got two years ago, buyers price off today's cost of capital. When that gap is wide, processes get pulled and volume falls.
- Then financing availability, which is separate from price. Private credit has taken a large share of leveraged lending from the banks, so deals can now get done even when the syndicated market is shut.
- Then confidence. Boards do not approve transformational deals when they cannot forecast next year. That is why uncertainty hurts volume more than the level of rates does.
- And the composition effect worth naming: in tougher markets you see more all-stock mergers, more minority and structured deals, more corporate carve-outs as companies raise cash, and more take-privates when public multiples fall below private marks.
Where candidates lose it
Answering with stale numbers or none at all. You do not need to be right about the exact policy rate, but you must know roughly where rates sit and one live example of a deal or a sector that reflects it. Update this the week of your interview.
Expect next
- What makes a good IPO environment?
- What would you expect to happen to deal volume next year?
- How has private credit changed leveraged finance?
Reported by candidates at Deutsche Bank (Investment Banking, Boston, 2025); Perella Weinberg Partners (Investment Banking, Houston, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
070What happens to EPS if a company issues debt to buy back shares?Deutsche BankInvestment Banking · San Francisco · 2025
Say this
EPS usually rises, because the share count falls faster than net income does. It is accretive as long as the after-tax cost of the new debt is below the earnings yield of the stock you are buying.
Then walk it
- Net income falls by the after-tax interest on the new debt. Share count falls by the shares repurchased. EPS is the ratio, so the direction depends on which falls proportionally more.
- The test: compare the after-tax cost of debt to the stock's earnings yield, which is the inverse of its P/E. Debt at 6 percent pre-tax is 4.5 percent after tax. A stock at 15 times P/E has a 6.7 percent earnings yield. Accretive.
- Flip it: a stock at 30 times P/E has a 3.3 percent earnings yield, below the 4.5 percent after-tax cost. Dilutive. Which is why expensive stocks should issue equity, not buy it back.
- Say the number to prove you can do it: $1,000 of debt at 6 percent costs $45 after tax at a 25 percent rate. If that buys 100 shares out of 1,000 and net income was $100, EPS goes from $0.10 to $55 over 900 shares, which is $0.061. Dilutive in that case, and the arithmetic tells you immediately.
- Then the value point: higher EPS does not mean more value. You have raised leverage, so the equity is riskier and the multiple should compress. Rearranging the capital structure does not create value on its own.
Where candidates lose it
Answering 'EPS goes up' with no condition. It depends entirely on the relationship between the cost of debt and the earnings yield. And stopping at EPS without noting that the multiple should fall as leverage rises.
Expect next
- So when is a buyback value-destructive?
- What are the different ways to use excess cash?
- How does this change the company's WACC?
Reported by candidates at Deutsche Bank (Investment Banking, San Francisco, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
078Tell me a piece of recent news and how it affects this bank.RBC Capital MarketsInvestment Banking · London · 2026BlackRockAsset Management · Tokyo · 2026Deutsche BankGeneralist · New York · 2026
Say this
Pick something with a direct line to their revenue, not a general headline. Then trace the chain: event, effect on a market they operate in, effect on a specific business line of theirs.
Then walk it
- Choose deliberately. A deal in their strongest sector, a regulatory change in their home market, or a competitor's result that reveals something about their position.
- State the fact precisely, with the number. Vagueness here is fatal because it suggests you skimmed a headline.
- Then the chain. For example: a large take-private in their coverage sector signals that sponsors are back in large-cap deals, which flows to their leveraged finance and sponsor coverage revenue, and they have a strong franchise there.
- Then say something specific about the firm that proves you researched it: a mandate they ran, a league table position, a business they recently built or exited.
- Close with why it matters to you: the growth area you want to work in. That converts a market question into a 'why this firm' answer, which is what it really is.
Where candidates lose it
Bringing a headline with no connection to their business, or one they will know better than you and can immediately correct. Pick something in their sector, know the number, and rehearse the three-step chain.
Expect next
- Why does that matter for the division you applied to?
- Which of our competitors benefits more?
- What else have you been reading?
Reported by candidates at RBC Capital Markets (Investment Banking, London, 2026); BlackRock (Asset Management, Tokyo, 2026); Deutsche Bank (Generalist, New York, 2026). 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.