Berenberg Interview Process: Rounds, Timeline & Compensation
Michael King, PE Investment Manager ·
Berenberg runs berenberg's London investment bank recruits mainly through its 10-week summer internship, and high-performing interns can be fast-tracked straight to interviews for the Investment Bank Graduate Programme. Direct applicants are reported to go through an online application and CV screen, a telephone interview, a face-to-face interview, and a final assessment day. Candidates also report a short non-calculator maths test (10 questions in 10 minutes, administered via Dartmouth Partners). The assessment day combines a technical interview, a general interview, a roughly 5-minute presentation, and a group exercise. Superday-style interviews are reported as two-on-one with heads of division and directors of the London office. Reported questions run from EBITDA bridge and DCF walk-throughs to 'pitch me a company', plus brainteasers such as how many golf balls fit in an Airbus A320. Glassdoor users rate the difficulty at about 3.05 out of 5.. Berenberg says the graduate programme runs for 12 months, with rotations through research, sales and investment banking before a permanent seat, and that it sources graduate hires primarily from its summer internships. The internship-to-graduate route therefore sets the calendar: interns who impress are fast-tracked to interview for a programme starting the following autumn (the current listing points to an October 2027 start). Applications are online only. Dates shift each year, so check the current listing rather than working back from last cycle. Public London data is thin and mixes seniorities, so treat everything here as a rough benchmark. Glassdoor UK puts the average Graduate Analyst salary at roughly £50k in London, with an additional-pay average of about £15k. Levels.fyi reports a median total compensation of about £94k for Berenberg investment bankers in the UK, which blends analysts with more senior staff and so overstates a first-year package. A first-year analyst in the low-to-mid £50ks base, plus a discretionary bonus, is consistent with these sources, but that is an estimate and not a firm-reported figure. This is cash pay only, with no carry at analyst level.
Interview rounds
Berenberg's London investment bank recruits mainly through its 10-week summer internship, and high-performing interns can be fast-tracked straight to interviews for the Investment Bank Graduate Programme. Direct applicants are reported to go through an online application and CV screen, a telephone interview, a face-to-face interview, and a final assessment day. Candidates also report a short non-calculator maths test (10 questions in 10 minutes, administered via Dartmouth Partners). The assessment day combines a technical interview, a general interview, a roughly 5-minute presentation, and a group exercise. Superday-style interviews are reported as two-on-one with heads of division and directors of the London office. Reported questions run from EBITDA bridge and DCF walk-throughs to 'pitch me a company', plus brainteasers such as how many golf balls fit in an Airbus A320. Glassdoor users rate the difficulty at about 3.05 out of 5.
Typical timeline
Berenberg says the graduate programme runs for 12 months, with rotations through research, sales and investment banking before a permanent seat, and that it sources graduate hires primarily from its summer internships. The internship-to-graduate route therefore sets the calendar: interns who impress are fast-tracked to interview for a programme starting the following autumn (the current listing points to an October 2027 start). Applications are online only. Dates shift each year, so check the current listing rather than working back from last cycle.
Compensation range
Public London data is thin and mixes seniorities, so treat everything here as a rough benchmark. Glassdoor UK puts the average Graduate Analyst salary at roughly £50k in London, with an additional-pay average of about £15k. Levels.fyi reports a median total compensation of about £94k for Berenberg investment bankers in the UK, which blends analysts with more senior staff and so overstates a first-year package. A first-year analyst in the low-to-mid £50ks base, plus a discretionary bonus, is consistent with these sources, but that is an estimate and not a firm-reported figure. This is cash pay only, with no carry at analyst level.
Notes
Berenberg is a Hamburg-headquartered private bank founded in 1590, and its London investment bank is a research- and equities-led business rather than a bulge-bracket M&A factory. That shapes the entry route: the graduate programme rotates through research and sales as well as investment banking, so candidates who want a pure M&A seat should ask early which desk the rotation ends in. Analysts are hired into a smaller team than at a bulge bracket, and the heads of division and directors who sit on the Superday panel are the people the analyst will work for. The firm is a more selective, lower-volume recruiter than the large banks, so internship performance matters more than a cold application.
Frequently asked questions
How many interview rounds does Berenberg run?
Berenberg's London investment bank recruits mainly through its 10-week summer internship, and high-performing interns can be fast-tracked straight to interviews for the Investment Bank Graduate Programme. Direct applicants are reported to go through an online application and CV screen, a telephone interview, a face-to-face interview, and a final assessment day. Candidates also report a short non-calculator maths test (10 questions in 10 minutes, administered via Dartmouth Partners). The assessment day combines a technical interview, a general interview, a roughly 5-minute presentation, and a group exercise. Superday-style interviews are reported as two-on-one with heads of division and directors of the London office. Reported questions run from EBITDA bridge and DCF walk-throughs to 'pitch me a company', plus brainteasers such as how many golf balls fit in an Airbus A320. Glassdoor users rate the difficulty at about 3.05 out of 5.
How long does the Berenberg interview process take?
Berenberg says the graduate programme runs for 12 months, with rotations through research, sales and investment banking before a permanent seat, and that it sources graduate hires primarily from its summer internships. The internship-to-graduate route therefore sets the calendar: interns who impress are fast-tracked to interview for a programme starting the following autumn (the current listing points to an October 2027 start). Applications are online only. Dates shift each year, so check the current listing rather than working back from last cycle.
What does Berenberg pay first-year hires?
Public London data is thin and mixes seniorities, so treat everything here as a rough benchmark. Glassdoor UK puts the average Graduate Analyst salary at roughly £50k in London, with an additional-pay average of about £15k. Levels.fyi reports a median total compensation of about £94k for Berenberg investment bankers in the UK, which blends analysts with more senior staff and so overstates a first-year package. A first-year analyst in the low-to-mid £50ks base, plus a discretionary bonus, is consistent with these sources, but that is an estimate and not a firm-reported figure. This is cash pay only, with no carry at analyst level.