eFinancialCareers

Australia’s fund managers are becoming increasingly innovative in how they hold onto staff. That’s the key finding of a survey focused on the asset management sector, by Jon Michel Executive Search. According to Meredith Jordan, the consultant who conducted the survey, staff retention has risen to priority number one for most firms. “It’s such an intensely competitive market at the moment that there are lots of different firms working on this.... Read more

Could it be Goldman Sachs is the only place to go if you want to make really big money? “The typical head of natural resources investment banking at Goldman, who will be a partner, will be earning twice as much as his [or her] comparator at Credit Suisse,” says one headhunter. “Managing directors at other banks can’t compare their pay to that of Goldman partners – it’s a totally different dynamic.” The... Read more

Babcock & Brown (B&B) is not just the fastest-growing investment bank in the country – it’s also emerging as one of the best paying. Sydney-based B&B has confirmed its status as the new 'millionaires factory' by revealing that its 1,019 employees shared wages and bonuses totalling $662m in calendar 2006. That equates to around AU$650k per employee – and that includes secretaries and junior staffers. If you take into account that nearly... Read more

Do you own shares in an Australian bank? If so, you could be sitting pretty – until the time comes to move on. Shares in the average Australian bank have doubled over the past five years (with the exception of National Australia Bank, which rose from only AU$30 to AU$40). And shares at Macquarie Bank have jumped twelvefold since the bank listed in 1996. Some Oz bankers have done well from incubating... Read more

The parlous state of the greenback is bad news for anyone paid in US dollars. Fortunately, it seems most Australian bankers aren’t. In London, most bankers at US investment banks receive their end of year bonuses (which can account for around 90% of their total pay), in US dollars. The fact that the US dollar has fallen 5% against the UK pound since October and 13% since the start of the... Read more

Australia’s top banking executives are being lambasted for taking home hefty pay rises. But their earnings are peanuts (or merely peas) compared to the earnings of their counterparts in the US. Who are the local fat cats? National Australia Bank’s CEO John Stewart has had a handsome 30 per cent pay rise, taking his earnings to AU$8.4m. Commonwealth Bank’s Ralph Norris is on AU$12m only months after becoming CEO. And Allan... Read more

There’s a good reason why Macquarie Bank is known as the “millionaires factory.” After reporting a 51 per cent jump in interim earnings earlier this month, the bank’s accounts show its salary bill also rose strongly, jumping from AU$1.2bn to AU$1.8bn. That’s an average of AU$201,494 for each of its 8,698 employees, with senior executives pulling in AU$150m combined. But in a year of record bank earnings and massive floats in... Read more

Corporate deals have flowed thick and fast Down Under this year and that usually means fat bonuses for the rain-makers behind them. With most banks working through performance reviews ahead of the year-end, recruiters say bonuses could be 15-20 per cent higher than last year. Deals have hit a record US$150 billion, according to Bloomberg. “It’s been a very good year with some organizations hitting budget by the middle of the... Read more

The risks associated with running a corporate treasury are growing – and Australia’s treasurers need help. Gone are the days when treasury risk was focused largely on interest rates and foreign exchange. Recruiters say treasuries are now also having to deal with more accounting-driven risks – part of what is termed operational risk - and many just don’t have the skills to do so. Fuelling this growth in the past two years... Read more

Investment bankers have a contender for the title of Australia’s best paid profession: the country’s top lawyers have also been doing well this year. Thanks to increased corporate activity, pay cheques are apparently as high as A$1.5m. The law firms whose employees are included in the “million dollar-plus club” include Freehills, Clayton Utz, Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Baker & McKenzie. According to The Australian Financial Review these firms have been performing... Read more