What Is A2A?
A2A stands for analyst to associate. It is the promotion an investment banking analyst receives at the end of the analyst program, usually after two or three years, that moves them to the associate level without an MBA. Twenty years ago most analysts were expected to leave after two years, go to business school, and return as associates. Today banks would rather keep the people they have trained, and A2A is how they do it.
How It Works
Toward the end of the second year, the group decides which analysts it wants to keep. The decision is driven by staffers and the senior bankers the analyst has worked with, and it tracks bonus bucket closely: top-bucket analysts are offered A2A and bottom-bucket analysts are not. The promoted analyst often spends a third year as a senior analyst before the title changes, and receives a raise that closes most of the gap with post-MBA associates.
A2A or Exit?
The trade-off is time against optionality. Taking A2A means a higher salary immediately and a faster path to vice president, at the cost of the private equity recruiting window that opens for second-year analysts. Most analysts who go through on-cycle private equity recruiting leave; most who skip it and are offered A2A stay. Neither is wrong, but the choice is usually made by the end of the first year, when on-cycle recruiting starts.
