Piper Jaffray & Co.

Municipal Investment Banking Intern

El Segundo, CA
Caitlyn McBride
Second Co-Op
Previous Co-Op:
Cost Analyst at GE Aviation

About Piper Jaffray

Culture in El Segundo

Piper Jaffray & Co. is a full-service

U.S. investment bank and asset
management firm headquartered in
Minneapolis, MN that was founded
in 1895. Its Public Finance division
ranks amongst the top municipal
underwriters in the country by
number of issues.
The firm has over 40 locations
throughout
the
U.S.
with
international locations in London
and Zurich, employing over 950
professionals worldwide.

At Piper Jaffray, the culture is hardworking

and professional. Everyone has a strong work
ethic and positive attitude, which are essential
for the long hours.
The El Segundo office is the largest Public
Finance office in California. Bankers in the
School and Large Issuers groups represent a
majority of the office. The entire office is pretty
small with only 10-15 people in total.
The firms other California Public Finance
offices include Laguna Beach, Sacramento and
San Francisco. The firm maintains an
underwriting desk located in San Francisco.

Public Finance Analyst Co-Op

This co-op offers you the ability to learn a tremendous amount about investment
banking, municipal bonds and the market in general. The position is very hands on
and demanding. As with many positions in finance, there is a steep learning curve and
the key to success is taking the initiative to learn quickly.
In this role, you support a group of bankers in the Large Issuers Group. As part of
the group, your clients include state entities, local city and county governments, as
well as other governmental entities. You work on a range of municipal bond types
spanning general obligation, land-secured, certificates of participation and revenue
issuances. Depending on each bankers workload, you may also assist bankers in the
School group with their financings.

Spring 2015

Skills

Responsibilities and Training

Required:
Prioritization and the ability to
react to changing demands
Confidence in analysis skills
Strong work ethic and organization
Excel, Word and PowerPoint
proficiency
Written and verbal communication
Learned:
Problem solving techniques
Software exposure (DBC, SDC
Platinum)
An even stronger attention to detail

Your first day or two will be spent training so

that you can learn some general deal execution,
municipal bond and other base information.
The rest of your training happens as you get
assignments from bankers. Generally, they will
walk you through a procedure once or twice
then expect you to be able to replicate the
process. A lot of what you learn will come from
your own commitment to figuring things out.
Responsibilities include many of a fulltime
analysts duties. You will work to support the
bankers with analysis, deal execution,
presentations, RFPs and client memorandum.

Personal Development and Innovation

Undoubtedly, this co-op helps you grow and learn both professionally and
personally. I was able to gain a lot of technical skills in addition to a higher level of
general confidence in my abilities. I have also attained a deeper understanding of the
markets as well as insight into investment banking as an industry.
I strongly believe I was able to make meaningful contributions to my team and the
company as a whole. At Piper Jaffray, you are always pushed to grow and challenge
yourself in numerous ways. This type of culture leads to a lot of pressure, but I have
found that I enjoy a high-pressure work environment.
Innovation at Piper Jaffray is very important as the firm always seeks new ideas to
better assist clients and keep a step ahead of competitors.