I joined corporate finance dept at a local Malaysian boutique investment bank 2 years ago after I graduated from the top uni in Singapore.

Good thing about working at a boutique IB in Malaysia is that you’ll get a good chance of running a transaction by yourself with minimal supervision (like in my case, a private placement), and get the big picture of IB by working through origination to final placement.

Bad thing is that, you’re probably working with SMEs on small deals (e.g. USD10m or less for an IPO deal).

Now I’m planning to move on for a career with a top-tier IB in HK from where I am. I thought of a few preliminary scenarios that might help me get to where I plan to:

Scenario 1: Move to a top-tier Malaysian IB (like CIMB) for a year or so before thinking about a move to HK

Scenario 2: Move to a top-tier international IB in Singapore, then do a transfer to HK office

Scenario 3: Get a top-class MBA and join the Associate program at top-tier international IB in HK

Most international IBs carry out their business in Malaysia from their Singapore office (if they happen to hold the license to carry out corporate finance activities in Malaysia, which until recently only a handful of them got the license). That more or less explains the dominance of Malaysian IBs in local capital markets & corporate advisory.

Any advice on how I should structure my approach to breaking into a top-tier IB in HK?

Thanks in advance!