Australia’s elite private schools may be breeding grounds for the next generation of chief executives, Rich Listers and political leaders but in the rough and tumble world of investment banking, a six-figure education counts for almost nothing.

Investment banking is known for being cliquey, where the most successful individuals convert their deep Rolodex of relationships into banking’s best-known currency – fees. While prestige homes in trophy suburbs usually follow, a slew of rainmakers trace their journeys to quieter towns far away from the hubbub of Sydney and Melbourne.