Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Investment Banking Without a License

May 5, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

Unlicensed investment bankers

Investment banking is, in the US, a regulated profession. If you are doing certain investment banking activities — like “advising on and/or facilitating … debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, financial restructurings, asset sales, divestitures or other corporate reorganizations and business combination transactions,” you have to pass a licensing exam and register with Finra, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

This sometimes trips people up, because investment banking is not as clearly defined as some other professions. If I am buddies with a chief executive officer, and I tell her “hey I’ve got another buddy who runs ...

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