eFinancialCareers

Australia's major fund management firms are on high alert, thanks to a spate of recent defections from their senior ranks to boutique fund managers. Firms such as Credit Suisse, AMP, ING Investment Management, Colonial First State and UBS Global Asset Management have all experienced the loss of senior managers to boutiques in recent weeks, and experts predict there is much more to come. Australia's massive funds investment sector, one of the largest... Read more

Now's not the time to be a leveraged financier: the credit crunch is snuffing out recruitment. With private equity activity slowing to a trickle, recruiters say the most active banks in leveraged finance in Australia have effectively pulled down the shutters on new hirings. "It's pretty much ground to a halt given the fluctuations in the credit market in the US," says Oliver Darkes of Carmichael Fisher. "The traditional big players in... Read more

Don’t look now: there are some signs that the US sub-prime mortgage malaise has spread to the Australian market for financial services jobs. Private equity firms and corporate advisers were hit hard with a 9% fall in job advertisements during September, according to the Olivier Internet Job Index. The index also showed ads on the Internet for banking jobs fell by 10.5% in September. Report author Bob Olivier, a director at the Olivier... Read more

Just when you fancied working in the City of London, the UK government plans to up the tax on overseas workers. Right now, Aussies living in the UK who are non-domiciled in the country are exempt from paying tax on income earned abroad (e.g. from renting out Sydney apartments). The proposed rules will require all ‘non-dom’ people in the UK who have been working in the country for seven years to either... Read more

Private equity is the promised land for many junior bankers. But pay is being spread more thinly as the number working in the industry rises. The Australian market for private equity professionals remains small but has shown “dramatic growth” in the last three to four years, says Victoria Biggs, a consultant with Jon Michel Executive Search. Biggs estimates that the entire venture capital/private equity industry employs “400 to 500 people” in this country – which... Read more

Melbourne looks like the place to be if you want to get ahead in asset management. One of the world’s largest asset managers, JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) is opening a new office in Melbourne, a location it describes as a fast-growing hub for fund management firms. JPMAM's head of institutional business in Australia, Peter Horn, says the Victorian capital’s credentials were underlined when the Australian Government established the Future Fund there. It’s not... Read more

With one breath local banking chiefs are assuring everyone jobs here are safe, with the other they’re quietly telling staff to pack their bags. Last week, Citigroup Australia became what may be the first of many banks to publicly let staff go. The struggling US bank retrenched around 20 staff in its Sydney equities and fixed income divisions, including members of its prop trading desk, just days after its local chief... Read more

Collapsing stock markets and tightening credit are bad news for most investment bankers. Restructuring specialists are the exception. If, as looks increasingly likely, the US economy lurches into recession, one senior economist warns that it’s only a matter of time before local defaults start to hot up. Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital Investors, says, “I would expect that if the US goes into recession... Read more

Forget US business schools, a new study suggests MBAs from China see the biggest boost to their earnings once the course has finished. The Financial Times’ 2008 MBA report found that alumni from Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University and Beijing’s China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) land the biggest salary increases upon graduation – 177% and 157% respectively. By comparison, graduates from a big name like the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School... Read more

Could it be banks have failed in their 30-year crusade against insider trading? Yes, according to one senior banker. Last month, Caliburn chairman Peter Hunt was reported in the Melbourne Age as saying, “Unusual price movements ahead of takeover announcements and capital raisings in this market are frustratingly commonplace.” Hunt’s frank comments follow hot on the heels of the SocGen fiasco and trader suspensions at Credit Suisse. Will banks now rush... 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

Under Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing legislation, introduced in 2006, all companies have identification and reporting obligations regarding the transfer of any monies – securities, bullion, FX, insurance, superannuation, gambling, fund and bank account transfers. If money laundering’s your thing, it’s good news – jobs are on the up. Steve Ingram, partner, forensics investigations at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and ex Federal Police and general fraud buster, says there has been... Read more

The official line out of ANZ at the moment is that it’s conducting an internal review of its securities trading processes and practices, following its involvement in the Opes Prime shares debacle. Unofficially, the bank is known to be wielding the axe internally as it looks to restructure some of its operations and clean out non-performing staff. ANZ Bank’s head of corporate affairs, Paul Edwards, confirmed that four ANZ employees had been... Read more

ANZ may be in a mess back in Melbourne, but in Singapore it’s looking for local talent to kick start its new commodities division. The Aussie firm will face competition as the recruitment market heats up for specialist traders with Asian expertise. The bank, which is considering job cuts in Australia, has opened a commodities trading desk in Singapore as part of its plans to expand Asian operations. “We already... Read more

Now may be a good time to get your CV to Deutsche Bank – especially if you work for Citigroup. A major recruitment drive is expected at Deutsche in Hong Kong as the German giant gears up for its third-quarter 2010 move to Kowloon’s International Commerce Centre. And Citigroup high fliers could be top of its hit list. Alice Liu, a director at search firm Pelham, says Deutsche has... Read more

Forget London – Australians are going to Asia to snap up middle and back-office jobs. There are plenty of opportunities across a wide range of functions, says Louise Langridge, of recruiter Morgan McKinley. Risk roles are flavour of the month and demand is strong in operations (with good product knowledge) and compliance, especially at mid to senior management level, she adds. IT gurus should board a plane to... 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

Aussie banks are growing in India but they’re not taking too much talent from Down Under with them. Macquarie Bank is expanding its retail and structured products divisions, a sign of where it sees potential for growth. The four majors are divided between disinterest (Commonwealth and NAB) and active plans (Westpac and ANZ). “From a property and infrastructure perspective, India is massive and its retail potential is simply incredible,” says... Read more

Banking jobs down under are looking increasingly attractive to both Americans and expat Aussies. But taking overseas experience to Australia doesn’t mean you can shift to a sexier job function. Grant Lovett, head of fixed income at UBS and a recent returnee himself, explains: “You can’t come back and say ‘I was a good credit trader overseas and now I want to try something completely different.’ The quality of people... Read more

Massive hiring sprees, skyrocketing salaries and crippling talent shortages – just another year in the life of the foreign banks in China. A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, based on interviews with 42 overseas banks, shows just how colossal recruitment in China has been over the last 12 months. The report highlights a 10,000-strong surge in staff numbers, a figure dominated by Asia-orientated heavy-hitters such as Standard Chartered and HSBC. “The... Read more