What Does Bulge Bracket Mean?
The bulge bracket is a term used to identify the top tier of investment banks that conduct the biggest and most lucrative assignments. They usually have a roster of large corporations, and they work on big ticket engagements such as capital raises and IPOs as well as provide significant financial consulting.
The term bulge bracket is in reference to the "tombstone," or marketing material, investment banks use to promote the closing of a transaction. When several banks work on a transaction, there is often one or two that manage the deal, with the rest taking a piece of it. The ones that manage the deal appear first and more prominently on the tombstone and are the ones that usually get included in the bulge bracket.