eFinancialCareers

Australia’s private equity market may have been running hot for the past two years but local and international firms are still bolstering their teams, especially on the research and modelling side. Much of the recent hiring, recruiters say, has targeted investment analysts and operational staff as teams are built out to help manage deals already done. “Many private equity firms are now starting to look more like investment banking teams,” says... Read more

Are you an asset management consultant or analyst at a major rating house in Australia and looking for a change of job? The fund of funds business might be the way to go. “Fund of funds tend to be more interested in qualitative, rather than purely quantative, skills,” says Andrew Kinghorn, a principal consultant covering fund management recruitment at Carmichael Fisher in Sydney. “They’d rather find someone who can assess a... Read more

Plenty of Australian businesses are listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). With others being encouraged to do the same, demand for equity capital markets relationship managers with Oz connections may follow. “I would say that’s a natural progression,” says Chris Rollason, director of corporate finance at Collins Stewart in London. “Ever since the introduction of the fast track rules there is an increasing attraction to Australian countries, which indicates there... Read more

Australia’s derivatives professionals have gone elsewhere in search of lucre. “There’s an incredible shortage of people in derivatives, especially for people with high quantitative skills,” Rob Douglass, principal consultant at Cambridge Consulting, tells us. “And the problem doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better because banks here can’t pay as well as in the UK.” More and more independent Australian firms are setting up equity options trading platforms for Asia-Pacific... Read more

When the going gets tough, wannabe bankers start showing their moves. Over the past few weeks the global financial community has been following one UBS candidate’s innovative approach to nabbing a job. His was no ordinary application – it featured an 11 page CV and a sharply edited video featuring him ballroom dancing, breaking bricks with his bare hands. Observers are treated to nuggets of wisdom like ‘To achieve success you... Read more

Surprise, surprise - graduates going into investment banking are a lot better off than those going into other industries. Salaries for bankers in their early twenties are in the region of $70,000-$100,000 a year, according to a recent article in the Australian Financial Review, and young investment bankers are earning bonuses of around 50%-100%. The paper said Macquarie and UBS are the best payers, with graduate base salaries of $85,000. Students... Read more

Soaring Australian private equity activity is prompting Australian-based investment banks to boost their financial sponsor teams. All leading investment banks tell us they have and are continuing to build their financial sponsor teams which help private equity firms arrange and execute M&A deals. Scott Perkins, the Sydney-based head of Global Banking for Australia and New Zealand at Deutsche Bank, has a nine person team and says he is still recruiting. “We... Read more

Australia’s infrastructure specialists are being pursued for roles in Asian financial centres. In particular, Babcock & Brown is currently setting up a presence in Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are also said to be building up infrastructure fund teams, sources say. “Major houses are starting to realise the benefits of making a long term investment in infrastructure funds,” says CK Wan, a director covering investment banking and private equity... Read more

Bankers on Wall Street and in the City of London are expecting bumper bonuses this year. How does the Sydney market compare? Quite well, seems to be the answer. Australia may have a market cap of just US$854bn – 20 times smaller than the US, but our research suggests financial services salaries in the market punch above their weight. According to the office of New York State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi, finance... Read more

Australian banks are said to be cutting back on their use of management consultants. The policy has yet to impact consultancy firms, which continue to hire at a merry rate. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has said it wants to halve its AU$100 million annual spend on consultants, while National Australian Bank has also said it has cut back on spending. The other two members of the “Big Four” banks, ANZ and... Read more

Australia’s banks have been quietly trying to hire more women, but the industry is still a bastion of masculinity. “We have some employers who are still concerned that their executive ranks remain something of a boys club,” says Matthew Gowan, a Melbourne-based specialist in banking at recruitment group Hays. “They say if they have male and female candidates of the same quality, then they may pick the female to balance things... Read more

Ever wanted to recruit financial services staff? Now could be the time to begin. Australia’s executive search firms are experiencing a mini war for talent all of their own. Talent2 is about to launch an advertising campaign in the UK, seeking up to 20 people for positions for its Australian offices. “We can’t find enough available people with the knowledge and experience in Australia,” complains director John Banks. “The recruitment industry... Read more

Frustrated with the unreliability of so-called ‘Generation Y’ employees, Australia's accounting firms and are said to be briefing recruiters to supply only baby boomer candidates aged 55 years or more. Jason Cartwright, general manager of client services at Melbourne-based Link Recruitment, reports his firm has been briefed by four accounting practices over the last few months, seeking only older employees. Cartwright says the firms have found that younger employees are hard to... Read more

It’s not exactly booming, but Australia’s job space for financial derivative specialists is steadily expanding. Demand for derivatives managers, traders and quantitative analysts is being driven primarily from the four major trading banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac – and investment bank Macquarie. As investment product offerings become more sophisticated, the banks are increasingly seeking to hire experts in synthetic instruments based around interest rate, foreign exchange, equity... Read more

Australia just can’t get enough junior corporate financiers. “Applicants once sweated about their CVs. Now candidates are being swooned over,’’ says Michael Markiewicz of Sydney recruiter Carmichael Fisher. There are five to ten times the number of unfilled positions now than in 2004, says Victoria Biggs at recruiter Jon Michel. “It can take months to fill them: demand keeps rising, competition for applicants is ferocious.’’ But don’t pack your bags yet: banks want... Read more

Australia offers a growing number of roles for securitization specialists as banks seek to expand their product offerings in the country. “There are a couple of firms looking to enter or re-enter the securitization market,” says Patrick Everest, a Partner with Jon Michel Executive Search. “There is definitely a shortage of good quality people in the local market, with those returning or coming in from overseas being well received,” he... Read more

There are 18 much richer Australians this week, and it’s not down to a lottery win. Goldman Sachs JBWere has promoted18 people to become Australian managing directors (MDs) - nearly doubling the 22 it had. Rumour has it they’ll each be on at least US$1.5m (AU$2.0m). What's going on? Craig Drummond, Chief Operating Officer at Goldman Sachs JBWere Sydney says the appointments "reflect the depth of talent and the significant contribution... Read more

Watch this space. Banks are beginning to move senior operational staff from Melbourne and Sydney to India and Singapore. Junior and mid-ranking staff could follow. “We’re talking about the top end operational roles,” says Adam Kolokotsas, a senior manager with recruitment firm Tanner Menzies. He says compliance and risk, IT and other operational roles, as well as expertise in infrastructure and structured finance, are all moving offshore. “I think it’s an indication... Read more

Prime brokerage jobs are increasing along with Australia' s booming hedge fund industry. Rick Jansz, managing consultant at BSI People, says prime brokerage is one of the hot spots of the Australian market, along with M&A and private equity. “There has been a lot of hiring over the last six months, and we’re about to go through the last phase of that as firms bulk up their operations to meet demand,”... Read more

Investment banks aren’t best known as cuddly employers. But when it comes to flexible working arrangements, even high-powered financiers are getting more leeway these days. Take UBS for example, which offers its employees a whole range of flexible alternatives, from the ability to work from home on some days, to staggered hour arrangements, job sharing, and part-time options. Mike Davies, UBS’s head of human resources, says workers at all levels are... Read more