Investment Banking Cover letter: Template & Guide

Not many people realise how much of an emphasis there is on people skills in investment banking. Communicating and convincing are a huge part of what you do. These skills don’t translate as well into sitting down and writing your investment banking cover letter as people might think, though.

You might not feel you have the right tools and intuition to persuade HR or a hiring manager, but don't worry. We'll help you write a cover letter that'll have HR and hiring managers taking notice.

In this guide, you are set to discover an investment banking cover letter example for the UK and precise instructions on how to write a successful one for yourself. Furthermore, you'll find expert tips to hone your investment banking cover letter with ease.

Use the LiveCareer cover letter builder and your cover letter will write itself. Choose a professional template, answer a few easy questions and the creator will generate a professional cover letter for you with just one click.

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Investment Banking Cover Letter Example

Now, here’s how to write an investment banking cover letter (also called a motivation letter):

1. Set out your investment banking cover letter header properly

Let's start with the right cover letter structure, step by step. The header is easy to create but critical to get right. From top to bottom, here's what to include:

• Align to the right: your name, your postal address, email, phone, (leave a line) and date of writing.
• Align to the left: the hiring manager’s name, their job title, the company name, and the company’s postal address.

Investment banking cover letter header example

You can adjust every cover letter created in the builder to meet the job requirements. Choose the name of your profession and the company to which you’re applying, and the LiveCareer cover letter builder will automatically adapt the content for you. Create a cover letter faster than you ever thought possible and apply for the job in record time.

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2. Start with the right investment banking cover letter salutation

The best option in addressing your cover letter is to use ‘Dear’ with the first name of the person you’re writing to. If you’re applying for a junior position or an investment banking internship or if you’re writing to someone significantly more senior, stick to ‘Dear’ followed by their title and surname.

In the latter case (e.g. ‘Dear Mr Smith’), always default to ‘Ms’ for women. Also, stay gender-neutral unless you’re certain of their gender. If you feel using the person’s first name is too informal but you don’t know their gender, then use ‘Dear’ followed by their first and last name (e.g. ‘Dear Jan Smith’).

All of the above assumes you know to whom exactly you’re writing. What if you don’t, though? The short answer is: find out. Go back to the job advert, search around online, stalk LinkedIn. You could even call up and ask. This can only make a good impression when done right, and you’ll do it right.

If you truly can’t come up with a name and job title, then address your letter using ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ or, better yet, something more specific, like ‘Dear Acquisitions Team Hiring Manager’. Avoid the completely effortless ‘To Whom It May Concern’, ‘Dear Sir/Madame’, and similar options.

Investment banking cover letter salutation example

3. Open strong and introduce yourself in your cover letter

As someone who works in investment banking, you know the importance of first impressions better than most. Setting out your cover letter properly has only prevented you from making a bad first impression, now is your opportunity to really impress your potential future employer.

Your opening paragraph should be brief—about 40–80 words—and cover the follow three points; it should:

• show your enthusiasm for the company and passion for the role
• mention the job title and company name
• present what you have to offer the company and how you’re a good fit.

Already have some experience in investment banking? Outline an achievement of which you’re particularly proud. Make sure it’s clear how it lines up with company’s goals. Explain how you can apply the same skills that led to your achievement to the company’s situation. Quantify wherever possible.

Writing an investment banking internship cover letter or applying for an entry-level job? Lead with your passion for the role and enthusiasm for the company. Include a relevant achievement from your studies if you can. If not, add a belief statement that describes how you’re a match for the company’s values and mission.

Whether experienced or not, this is the time to drop names if you were referred to the position. Mostcompanies stand to benefit from hiring referrals, but showing your contacts and connections is doubly beneficial in investment banking, where having contacts and networking are so vital to the job.

Investment banking cover letter opening paragraph example

You don’t have to create any content yourself. The LiveCareer cover letter generator will automatically suggest the best content for your cover letter with ready-made examples and expert tips.

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4. Use your investment banking cover letter to showcase your achievements

This is the main part of your cover letter, and it’s the part that’ll do the heavy lifting. To write it, simply string two or three achievements together. Make sure they’re all relevant to the posted requirements of the job and you’re done. Aim to write 120–200 words in one or two paragraphs, no more.

Quantify each of your achievements. Use accomplishment statements to help do this, starting each sentence with an action word and structuring them around problems and solutions, broadly defined. You can use this same structure for the achievement in your opening paragraph. Think ROI from the company’s perspective.

Investment banking cover letter main paragraph example

5. Wrap it up and end your investment banking cover letter with a CTA

In 40–60 words, summarise your achievements and skills and tie them back to benefits that you could bring to your employer. You could also take this opportunity to demonstrate some of your knowledge regarding the company. Take a sentence or two at the end of your cover letter to leave your reader with a clear and confident CTA.

Investment banking cover letter closing paragraph example with CTA

6. Sign off the right way for an investment banking cover letter

The convention here leaves you with two options and one clear choice:

• use ‘Yours Sincerely’ if you addressed the cover letter to a named person.
• use ‘Yours Faithfully’ if you didn’t, e.g. if you used ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ instead. 

Investment banking cover letter sign-off example

7. Formatting your investment banking cover letter

There are just a few formatting nuances to keep in mind in addition to what’s required by the standard British business letter format. Check the list below before clicking save for the last time on this particular cover letter.

Length

If you follow this guide, you’ll end with 200–350 words total. That’s about half an A4 page to one full A4 page, which is perfect. Keep to a one-page maximum whatever you do. Short cover letters are just as effective as longer ones. Here’s a recap of where that word count is going:

• opening paragraph—between 60 and 80 words
• main body—between 120 and 200 words
• closing paragraph—between 40 and 60 words.

Match the CV

Your investment banking CV and cover letter form a single document, so their overall appearance should match. This applies to font, page layout, and colour choices first and foremost.

Choose an easy-to-read font

Keep to font sizes between 10 and 12 points. Go with a professional, understated font like Arial, Noto, Garamond or the default Liberation or Calibri.

Make your layout clear and easy to follow

Use white space between sections and paragraphs to direct your reader’s eyes. If you have a huge block of text in the middle, consider using bullet points to break it up.

Save as PDF

Unless you’ve been asked to send your cover letter and CV in a particular file format, save/export your investment banking cover letter to PDF. Writing an email cover letter? It's a different thing.

A cover letter alone simply won’t be enough—you need an impactful CV, too. Create your CV in minutes. Just follow our wizard and fill in every CV section with ready-made content. Get started by choosing a professional CV template.

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I really hope this article has helped you hammer out that cover letter. Is there anything you’d like more information on? Do you have any questions, comments or feedback to share with me or our other readers? Leave them in the comments section below.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.