eFinancialCareers

The financial crisis and the prospect of a regulatory crackdown mean derivatives jobs are in short supply in Australia. Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, expects the derivatives market to soon be subjected to increased government regulation. “This will have an impact on job opportunities in the financial sector,” he adds. Derivatives traders are feeling the pinch of relatively weak balance sheets, says John Coles, CEO,... Read more

Banks including JPMorgan continue to recruit in equity derivatives as the sector looks set to survive the credit crunch comparatively unscathed. JPMorgan’s Asian team has grown from five to 45 since 2003 and headcount will continue to rise to meet Indian and Chinese demand, according Ong Tsui Keng, the bank’s executive director for equity derivatives. Ong tells us: “The expansion came as a result of the need to cover... Read more

There is drama galore in the murky world of securitization, but for bankers’ jobs the outlook seems decidedly tragic. It remains to be seen whether the recent decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to buy AU$780m of mortgage-backed bonds will help to kick-start the market, says one leading economist, who asked not to be named. In the short-term at least, this isn’t exactly sweet music for... Read more

Is Australia awash with expats fleeing slaughter in the City? Well, yes, it seems many suddenly have remembered the joys of home, particularly those in securitization. But leaving London doesn’t always lead to a great job in Aus. Emilie Everett, UBS’s country head of recruiting, has noticed more CVs than normal from people wanting to come back. “They have not lost their jobs, and are from all levels of seniority,... Read more

Investment banks are coming up with innovative ways to keep some staff on their payrolls, even while they let go of others in the wake of the credit crunch. This inventiveness mostly takes the form of long-term stock grants, or measures that let banks defer cash expenses in hopes that revenue growth will pick up later on. They may not be popular but, with most banks facing a more... Read more

Wholesale redundancies don’t seem to be on the agenda right now for Australia’s major and regional trading banks, or for most of the investment banks. That’s the word from senior recruiters, although the marketplace is still full of downsizing rumours, including one that Bank of America will scale back from a trading bank to a branch office, and that Citigroup will slice into its local headcount. Edmund Gill, director of Hays... Read more

Who'll buy ABN AMRO's Australian unit? And what will happen to its 700 local staff? With a reported AU$1bn price tag, and most banks struggling to find cash at the moment, sale advisers Lazard Carnegie Wylie certainly have their work cut out. Analysts regard ABN AMRO’s mergers and acquisition division as one of the key strengths of the local unit, and say any buyer will likely be keen to retain as many... Read more

It's not looking good if you fancy landing a job in the Australian financial services market. The Aussie banking sector job market is floundering, according to the most recent monthly instalment of the Olivier Job Index. Report author Bob Olivier, a director of recruiter Olivier Group, attributes the poor results – down 5.12% in February – to the credit crunch, interest rate rises and the stock market sell-off. “Sub-prime write-offs have hurt... Read more

Wall Street is definitely not the flavour of the month at the moment, especially when it comes to investment banking. It’s not really surprising, therefore, that many Australians working in the Big Apple are checking out their job options for fear they may not have a job in the very near future. According to Adam Gillibrand, Australian-based executive director for US recruitment and consulting firm Options Group, an increasing number of expat... Read more