Assalam Wa Alaikum. My name is Umair and I have a question regarding the permissibility of advisory boutique investment banks.
Based on my previous understanding, I read on this website that working for Advisory Boutique Investment Banks that are focused on M&A such as Lazard, Moelis, Evercore, etc. were allowed. Additionally, I read that working for Bulge Brackets and Middle Market Bank as a traditional investment banking analyst is haram since they provide capital markets service that often entails DCM. However, I realized recently that a good portion of these Advisory Boutique Investment Banks in addition to other Advisory Boutique Investment banks that provide M&A service also provide restructuring for their clients. This is confusing for me because I’m not sure if restructuring is haram.
I have a few questions regarding this. Does having a job in an advisory boutique such as Lazard which provides restructuring make it impermissible by default? Or can it be permissible if the main role is M&A advising? Is working at a bulge bracket or middle-market investment bank as an ECM Analyst halal as my primary role would be related to either analyzing stocks or IPOs.
I’m at crossroads right now as an incoming college freshman and I’m not sure if I should just make the difficult but potentially necessary decision of quitting my pursuit for an advisory boutique job.
Thanks in advance!