Investment Banking interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

100

Firms

46

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsTSTruist Securities10Rothschild & Co8Centerview Partners7CSCredit Suisse7HWHarris Williams6Houlihan Lokey6Lazard6Mizuho6Barclays5Citi5Deutsche Bank5Evercore5Moelis & Company5MSMorgan Stanley5Piper Sandler5RCRBC Capital Markets5Goldman Sachs4Nomura4TD Securities4Bank of America3GSGuggenheim Securities3J.P. Morgan3Jefferies3Moody's3Perella Weinberg Partners3WPWarburg Pincus3WBWilliam Blair3HSBC2Lincoln International2Scotiabank2TPTPG2UBS2Wells Fargo Securities2Advent International1Apollo Global Management1Bain Capital1Balyasny Asset Management1BLBlackRock1BPBNP Paribas1General Atlantic1Invesco1Morningstar1PIMCO1STSociété Générale1SSState Street1WMWellington Management1

Topic

All topicsAccounting14Valuation21M&A10Markets and deals10Capital markets3LBO8Leveraged finance3Restructuring2Credit3Debt capital markets2Capital structure2Case and estimation11Brainteasers6Fit5

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserFitMarket view

1. 017Given a $10 change in revenue, COGS, or CapEx, which has the highest impact on a DCF?ValuationHardtechnicalMizuhoInvestment Banking · New York · 2026

   Say this

   CapEx, because $10 of CapEx reduces cash flow by the full $10 with no tax offset. Revenue and COGS both flow through the income statement, so their effect is only $10 times one minus the tax rate.

   Then walk it

   1. A $10 increase in CapEx is a straight $10 reduction in unlevered free cash flow that year. Dollar for dollar.
   2. A $10 increase in revenue lifts EBIT by $10 only if there is no incremental cost, and after a 25% tax it is worth $7.50 of cash flow.
   3. A $10 increase in COGS reduces EBIT by $10 and costs $7.50 of cash flow after tax.
   4. So per dollar, CapEx bites hardest in the year it happens.
   5. But over the full forecast the ranking can flip, because a revenue change usually persists and compounds into the terminal value, while a one-off CapEx spike does not. If the question means a permanent change, revenue wins.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering the arithmetic without asking whether the change is one-off or permanent. The interviewer is probing whether you understand that terminal value capitalises recurring changes. Ask the clarifying question, then answer both cases.

   Expect next

   • Is that change one-time or permanent in your answer?
   • What if the CapEx is growth CapEx that lifts future revenue?
   • Which one would you sensitise in the deck?

   Reported by candidates at Mizuho (Investment Banking, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 060Describe the differences between private credit and bank syndicated debt.Leveraged financeHardtechnicalMizuhoInvestment Banking · New York · 2026MizuhoGeneralist · New York · 2026

   Say this

   A private credit loan is held by one or a handful of funds, negotiated bilaterally, priced higher but certain and fast. Syndicated debt is arranged by a bank and sold to many institutional investors, cheaper but subject to market conditions.

   Then walk it

   1. Execution certainty is the big one. A direct lender commits and holds. A bank underwrites and then has to syndicate, so the borrower carries flex risk if the market moves against them.
   2. Price: private credit typically costs 100 to 300 basis points more. You pay for speed, confidentiality and certainty.
   3. Documentation and relationship: a small lender group means you can renegotiate in a downturn with people you know. A broadly syndicated loan means hundreds of holders, some of them distressed funds who bought in at a discount and want a different outcome.
   4. Size and liquidity: the syndicated market handles the largest deals and trades in a secondary market, which matters for pricing transparency. Private credit paper is illiquid and marked by the manager.
   5. Structurally, private credit has taken a large share of mid-market and increasingly large-cap leveraged lending, which is why the market can now fund deals when the syndicated window is shut. The systemic question people are watching is whether valuations in an illiquid, manager-marked asset class are honest through a real default cycle.

   Where candidates lose it

   Describing only the price difference. The reason private credit won share is certainty of execution and flexibility of documentation, not price. If you can also name the concern about mark-to-model valuations, you sound like someone who reads the market.

   Expect next

   • Why has private credit taken share from the banks?
   • Which would you advise a sponsor to use?
   • Tell me about the two different types of loans in the broadly syndicated loan market.

   Reported by candidates at Mizuho (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Mizuho (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.