Hi everyone, I’m currently preparing for an interview with a global bank’s internal strategy team. While I have experience with management consulting-style cases, I suspect the 'in-house' banking lens requires a different approach.
What kind of cases should I expect and how should i prepare differently? Also, how deep do I need to go on banking-specific knowledge? Would love any tips from those who have made the jump from consulting to corporate!
Hi there,
The expectations are indeed different (no matter what anyone says).
You are expected to truly know/understand your field and to be able to talk professionally/knowledgeably about any related topic that comes in.
While analysts/associates are often hand held through a case, you won't be at all.
Furthermore, you can indeed expect less "structure". Interviews are more likely to be a rattling off of pointed questions ("How would you handle x", "How do you see x changing within the industry" etc.), than a formal case. Furthermore, if a case is given, it might be more flowing. So, they may give a quick prompt, rattle off some numbers/conclusions, and call it a day. There may not even be exhibits.
On the other hand, you may get a full "formal" case as well!
In essence, be prepared for anything and everything (sorry!), BUT be 100% certain that the bar is higher and your expertise needs to show through.
I have 20 Capital One cases plus a broader repository of banking and financial services cases. Happy to case you through them and provide the full set with coaching. Shoot me a message: book a session here.
Worth reading on the mindset shift for these types of interviews: How to Shift Your Mindset to Ace the Case.
I also have industry deep dives across 20+ sectors including financial services. Shoot me a message and I'll send one over.
Your instinct is right. The lens is different.
In-house bank strategy cases are more grounded than consulting cases. Less about abstract market entry, more about whether a business unit should be grown, restructured, or cut given capital constraints and regulation. Expect trade-offs between profitability, risk, and compliance.
The other difference is stakeholder complexity. Internal teams have to influence without authority. You might get asked how you would land a recommendation with a resistant business head or prioritise across competing divisions.
On banking knowledge: you do not need to be a product expert. Just know how a bank makes money, what ROE means, why capital allocation matters, and roughly what Basel does to lending. That level gets you through.
Read the bank's latest annual report before the interview. Know which businesses they are investing in and which they are pulling back from. Reference it in the room and you will stand out immediately.
That's a smart distinction to make – you're absolutely right that "corporate strategy" at a bank, especially in-house, shifts the lens quite a bit from typical external consulting cases.
You'll still see cases that test your structured thinking, but the focus tends to be less on market entry for a theoretical client and more on optimizing existing operations or driving growth within specific business units of that particular bank. Think about questions like "How do we improve our digital offering for retail banking customers?", "What's our strategy to grow our wealth management AUM in a competitive market?", or "How should we respond to evolving regulatory pressures across our global markets business?". The "client" is always internal, so expect a stronger emphasis on implementation, internal stakeholder considerations, and leveraging existing bank capabilities.
For banking knowledge, you don't need to be a deep technical expert in, say, derivatives trading. Instead, focus on understanding the bank's major revenue streams, key business segments (retail, commercial, investment banking, wealth management), common challenges (e.g., legacy tech, regulatory burden, margin compression), and current industry trends (fintech disruption, AI, interest rate environment). Read their recent investor presentations and earnings call transcripts – these are gold for understanding their specific strategic priorities and pain points. Tailor your standard consulting frameworks to an internal organizational context, considering how a strategy would actually be executed within a large, complex bank.
All the best with your prep!
Hi, good question — the intuition you have is right, the “in-house” angle does change things a bit.
I’ve worked on and coached for several interviews of this type, and in most cases you’re still applying classic business case logic, but to a much more real, company-specific context.
What does that mean in practice?
Instead of a generic “market entry” or “profitability” case, you’re more likely to get something like:
So the structure is familiar, but the expectation is that you anchor everything in the actual business model of the bank.
If the bank is focused on wealth management, for example, a strong answer would naturally bring in:
This is where the difference vs consulting cases comes in.
In consulting interviews, being structured is often enough.
In corporate roles, they also test whether you can think like someone inside the business, not just an external advisor.
On preparation:
You don’t need to become a banking expert, but you do need to show you understand the basics and can apply them naturally in a case.
Overall, candidates who do well are those who combine:
If you want, I’m happy to help you prepare with a few targeted cases in a banking context — this type of interview is very trainable once you get used to the “internal” lens.
It depends a bit on the role. For example, whether it is business strategy within a specific business unit (such as CIB, Wealth & Asset Management, Retail, Payments, etc.) or a “top of the house” strategy team advising the CEO/Chairman.
In the first case, some understanding of how the products work, customer behavior, and specific industry trends is usually expected.
However, if it is a top-of-the-house strategy team, in my own experience — and having been interviewed in the past by the Head of Global Strategy of a tier-1 bank — they focused heavily on capital and regulatory questions (for example CET1 capital ratio, how it is constructed, deductions, etc.). The reason is that when defining the bank’s strategy, the team often needs to think about capital allocation. Even though the CFO team ultimately executes it, strategy needs to have a view on it.
If the role sits within a specific business unit strategy team, the capital aspect is usually lighter or sometimes not discussed at all, and the focus tends to be much more on business development and growth questions.
It also depends a lot on the bank and its culture. In my experience, European banks tend to be quite focused on capital and regulatory topics.
The format will differ from employer to employer.
I strongly recommend you reach out to the recruiter to clarify the format and types of cases, so you can then prepare in a more targeted way.
As a general piece of advice, you should practice more cases that are banking related, and have a good understanding of how banks work.
You might find this list of terms useful:
• • Cheatsheet: The Must-Know Consulting Terms for Interviews
I've worked with many candidates who came from banking or went into banking-related roles, so if you need any help, including banking cases, reach out.
Best,
Cristian
hey there :)
great question, the main shift vs classic McK style cases is that internal strategy teams are much more practical and implementation focused. expect cases around growth, cost optimization, digital transformation, or specific banking topics like products, segments, or markets, often with more real world constraints.
you don’t need super deep technical banking knowledge, but you should understand basics like how banks make money, key products, and current trends (e.g. digital, regulation). more important is showing structured thinking plus a sense for feasibility and impact.
also lean more into “so what” and execution, not just analysis.
happy to help you prep a few tailored cases if you want!
best,
Alessa :)
