eFinancialCareers

The value of some super funds may have fallen this year, but there’s certainly been no decline in superannuation recruitment, especially if you’re a financial planner. And while industry funds offer more job vacancies, pay and bonuses are better at private funds. “Super hiring just hasn’t taken a hit. The last few months have been very busy compared to sectors like fund management which have frozen up,” says Kate Agouridis,... Read more

Ultra high net worth (UHNW) clients are far from ordinary individuals. They typically have at least US$20m – and often more – in liquid assets to invest and are at the pinnacle of private wealth operations. Many banks are still looking for specialist private bankerrs to service them. Recruitment of UHNW bankers in Singapore has been driven by the rapid growth of individual and family wealth across Asia, says... Read more

Smaller might be better when it comes to finding a fulfilling private banking role. More flexibility, less sales pressure and fewer country constraints are key draw cards of working for a niche player in Asia. Reto Isenring, Singapore managing director at VP Bank, which also has offices in Hong Kong, says relationship managers (RMs) at big banks often become “product sales machines”. He tells us: “Many of them get... Read more

Australian private banking recruitment looks set to keep rising on the back of a growing and largely untapped potential client base. And the senior openings aren’t only for those already working at a private bank. David Hewett, general manager of St George’s private bank, tells us that many of the 160,000 Australians with more than AU$1m in assets-to-invest don’t realise they qualify for the private treatment. “Private banking is certainly... Read more

The AU$18.6bn merger plan announced this month between Westpac and St George looks destined to lead to big job cuts. Experts expect thousands of jobs to be axed as the banks integrate their operations and reduce overlaps across different divisions, as well as at the branch level. Toon Van Beeck, senior analyst with industry research group IBISWorld, estimates mergers and takeovers in the banking sector will result in the loss of... Read more

What is it about ABN AMRO employees that’s so irresistible to Babcock & Brown (B&B)? The ASX-listed investment bank has poached ABN’s entire Indian M&A group, having nicked its infrastructure team 18 months ago. ABN staff might well be desirable, but this latest raid was motivated more by location: India. While outsourcing retail support roles to the sub-continent is common, we are now starting to see banks, including B&B... Read more

It’s probably the best-kept secret in Australian banking circles right now. Just how big will Macquarie Bank’s profit be when it reports its annual results on 20th May, and will employee bonuses rise, fall or remain the same as last year? The bonus question has just about everyone stumped, with recruiters having little if anything to go by, except Macquarie’s own recent forecast that its full-year earnings will be up about... Read more

Forget the US bulge bracket – Australian private banks are the new kids on the block in Asia, and they’re hiring voraciously. Macquarie Bank launched its Asian private wealth business in Singapore in March this year to target the booming regional market. National Australia Bank is also aggressively expanding in Asia, says Sicilia Lim, a senior consultant at recruiters Robert Walters. Lim says the Australians and other new niche... Read more

You’d think UBS would be finding it hard to hang on to people: a first-quarter loss of US$12bn, writedowns of US$19bn and job cuts in Europe – including the chairman himself, Marcel Ospel. The strange thing is, no one seems to want to get out of there. Recruiters, whose inboxes are usually crammed with CVs when institutions show signs of cracking, say the only thing to come out of UBS so... 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