eFinancialCareers

Australians and Kiwis have the highest pass rates globally for one of the financial services industry’s most challenging exams. Last year, a substantially higher proportion of candidates in Sydney and Auckland passed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams than anywhere else in the world. While the average global pass rate for the CFA Level One exam was 34%, pass rates in Sydney and Auckland were 43% and 47% respectively. A massive... Read more

If you’re an Australian with experience of working in private equity funds, now could be the time to contemplate going home. The industry down under is looking up. There are plenty of indicators of Australia’s robust private equity scene. US-based Carlyle Group is opening a new Sydney office. JPMorgan Partners Asia recently opened a new office in Melbourne. X.D Yang, co-head of Carlyle’s Asian private equity operation said Australia was one... Read more

Junior bankers in London and New York who are looking for new jobs after receiving disappointing bonuses will be pleased to hear they are highly sought after in Sydney and Melbourne. Australian recruiters report no let up in the country’s demand for junior M&A bankers. With banks like Morgan Stanley, Babcock & Brown, Rothschild and Citigroup looking to build their presence in Australia, the sector is desperate for talent - particularly... Read more

Last year it was the turn of Europe, before that it was the US. This year, it looks like Asia will be the focus of banks seeking to build a global presence in prime brokerage. Sydney could be left watching the game, however. “Prime brokerage is growing in Asia, with all firms expanding,” says Andrew Britton at search firm Options Group in Hong Kong. “A lot of talent is moving in... Read more

When Jonathan Zhu, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive in China resigned last month to join Bain Capital, a private equity fund, his move suggested a trend that may become increasingly apparent in the months to come: private equity funds in Asia are hiring. And investment banks are their main hunting ground. “The Asian private equity market will be a significant source of hiring activity in 2006,” says Michael Di Cicco, a consultant at... Read more

It’s nearing the end of the summer in Sydney and the city is suffering from a drought of debt capital markets (DCM) originators. Australian recruiters say the situation is reaching crisis point. “You can’t hire a DCM originator here for love or money,” says Oliver Darkes, a consultant at recruitment firm Carmichael Fisher. “It’s a particularly hot market, and the shortage of talent is becoming ridiculous.” Patrick Everest, a consultant at Jon... Read more

It’s not just investment bankers who are looking to capitalise on the stellar growth of the Chinese economy - global fund managers also want to crash the party. National Australia Bank (NAB) said last week that it will expand its A$7 billion wealth management business, MLC, into China. The bank’s chief executive, Ahmed Fahour, believes it is hard to ignore China's growth story. What’s more, he hopes that in the long-term,... Read more

As a notable employment trend, it’s hard to overlook the accelerating activity in the Australian property securities sector. What’s more, some headhunters anticipate this bustle could continue in the near term. The consolidation of the Australian listed property trust (LPT) sector over the past two years has resulted in the market’s new found love for direct property and property-related holdings. These days it is not unusual for retail and institutional investors... Read more

The domestic reporting season comes to an end this week - a refreshing thought for all the equity analysts, portfolio managers and institutional dealers who have been frantically interpreting the various corporate results. It's also good news on the equities hiring front. Approximately 65% of listed companies have now reported their quarterly profits and generally speaking, the results have been surprisingly pleasing. Of note, most companies’ earnings growth either met or... Read more

JPMorgan Cazenove is the latest bank to expand its Asian corporate finance presence. London newspaper The Times reports that the bank, a joint venture between Cazenove and JPMorgan, is planning to recruit more than 100 staff in order to tap Chinese companies’ growing demand for investment banking services. It reports that the bank intends to open an office Shanghai, initially staffed by six people, and to add to its bases in... Read more

From mergers and acquisitions to spin-offs and stock splits, corporate activities can materially impact a company’s capital structure and more hires are needed. Typically, a corporate action is determined by a company’s board of directors and then approved by the company’s shareholders. The action doesn’t stop there though; custodial service professionals within investment banks, fund management companies and stockbroking houses then process, reconcile and monitor the event. Current candidates: take action Owing to... Read more

Following our recent article about the lack of debt capital markets (DCM) originators, we thought it was only fitting that this week we focus on the hiring trends of investment banking’s current golden child - equity capital markets (ECM). The flood of initial public offerings (IPOs) over the past few years has seen several domestic ECM teams generate higher fees and revenue than their advisory or DCM counterparts. According to the ASX,... Read more

The hiring buzz surrounding private equity (PE) is likely to get louder this year as the asset class attracts more investors. With new funds being raised and new private equity groups entering the market, PE job opportunities are growing. Victoria Biggs from Jon Michel Executive Search says she has seen three to four times more private equity roles appear over the past 18 months – with no sign of slowing. Angus... Read more

Solicitors say UK government plans to introduce a new points-based immigration system will make it easier for non-EU financial services employees to work in the country. Julia Onslow Cole, a partner at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, says in future most banking employees will be able to enter the UK without lining up a job in advance. Under the new system, migrants who amass more than 75 points after meeting a... Read more

Risk management practices have been thrown into the limelight over the past few years thanks to incidents such as Barings Bank nearly being destroyed by Nick Leeson or, closer to home, the unauthorized foreign exchange losses that plagued NAB. The need for stricter risk management procedures has led to more and more banks employing econometric modelers for risk management roles. Emma Cassidy, an account director at Bluefin Resources, says that over... Read more

A new survey suggests that finance and human resources staff in the UK, Australia and Ireland move overseas for the pure joy of travelling. By comparison, their counterparts in France and Germany tend to move abroad for career reasons. The survey, of 1,800 international finance and HR professionals by Robert Half International, found that 68% and 63% respectively of those surveyed in France and Germany cited a career move as the... Read more

Last week South Australian-based Funds SA appointed Hong Kong-based Lloyd George Management to manage an Asia ex-Japan equities mandate worth A$66 million. Launched last December, the Myer Family Office is also a seed investor in Lloyd George’s Asia-ex Japan fund. Moving with the times Not only are mandates leaving our shores - international banks are looking overseas to hire high-quality candidates. “In the past, the UK and the US have been... Read more

Demand is outstripping supply for accountants in Dublin’s booming financial services industry. As a result, many companies are casting their nets wider than the country’s borders and looking to the UK, New Zealand and Australia for experienced recruits. Carole Brown, director of CareerWise Recruitment in Dublin, says the rise of Dublin as a prominent offshore centre combined with the introduction of a more stringent regulatory environment and international accounting standards has... Read more

Some market participants anticipate that client demand for multi-manager offerings could double to A$170 billion over the next five years. Consequently, this expected demand has resulted in a rise in job opportunities within the multi-manager arena. Working in a fund of funds research team as an analyst or portfolio manger differs to working in a traditional equities research team. In general, a portfolio manager in a traditional business would have worked... Read more

Whilst candidate supply is outpacing job opportunity demand within the IT audit industry, competition is only getting fiercer because of the increase in offshore applicants. According to Nicola Upham, divisional manager of the finance and accounting team at recruiter Olivier, there hasn’t been a notable increase in roles within the IT audit sector over the past year. This compares to the broader audit industry, which has seen a marginal increase in... Read more