eFinancialCareers

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

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

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

It’s left the finances of some of Australia’s biggest local governments in poor shape, but Lehman Brothers is adamant the Grange Securities fiasco and the credit squeeze won’t force an early exit from the domestic market. The global i-bank has grown its Australian staff by 50-60 over the past 12 months, according to Michelle Sprod, head of marketing at Lehmans. “We will continue to grow as the market dictates and... Read more

Forget the credit crunch – infrastructure recruitment is continuing as if it never happened. “Everyone’s hiring in that space at the moment,” says Melissa Tal at recruiter Michael Page. Local and global banks are chasing Macquarie and Babcock & Brown’s lead. Others in the sector agree: “We definitely see it as an important part of our future,” says Mark John, head of infrastructure and utilities at Westpac. “It’s an... Read more

Investment banks are coming up with innovative ways to keep some staff on their payrolls, even while they let go of others in the wake of the credit crunch. This inventiveness mostly takes the form of long-term stock grants, or measures that let banks defer cash expenses in hopes that revenue growth will pick up later on. They may not be popular but, with most banks facing a more... Read more

The slowdown in equity capital markets is taking a toll on the hiring activity of some of Wall Street's biggest names. UBS, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all seen fees earned from equity and debt capital markets fall between 40% and 70% in the first three months of this year. And with fewer listings amid turbulent market conditions, investment banks in Asia, which had their most profitable... 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

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

Wall Street is definitely not the flavour of the month at the moment, especially when it comes to investment banking. It’s not really surprising, therefore, that many Australians working in the Big Apple are checking out their job options for fear they may not have a job in the very near future. According to Adam Gillibrand, Australian-based executive director for US recruitment and consulting firm Options Group, an increasing number of expat... Read more

Managers at Babcock are busy informing their minions how much they'll earn in bonuses this year. It should be (very) good news. The investment bank announced last month that its net profit had jumped 58% in the latest year, to AU$407m, and that its bonus pool had risen an impressive 38.5%, to AU$573m. Based on the bank’s 1,435 headcount at the end of December, the average bonus per employee will be AU$400k,... 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

It’s been a rough six months for Aussie banks, and one leading stockbroker says more losses could be in store. Since August last year, shares in NAB have plummeted 26%, ANZ shareholders have lost 23%, and Babcock & Brown and Macquarie shares have also taken decent hits. Grant Williams, a director of Sydney-based stockbroker Reynolds, says without a crystal ball it’s difficult to say for sure where share prices are headed.... Read more

Set to rival London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Singapore’s new junior market could create jobs in the city state. Last year, Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) unveiled Catalist – a sponsor-supervised listing platform for fast growing local and international companies. Banks are already getting in on the act. Earlier this month, SGX named 10 sponsors for companies seeking a listing on the junior bourse, including Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, as well... Read more

There are plenty of pessimists around the Australian investment markets but Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, isn’t one of them. The leading Aussie economist says despite the global downturn and rising interest rates locally, 2008 is likely to see growth remain vigorous in Australia, thanks to strong investment and exports. “Increases of 60-80% in prices for iron ore and coal will add just over $2bn a... Read more

There are signs that Australia’s appetite for banking talent isn’t quite what it was. According to the latest Olivier Internet Job Index, banking and finance was one of the slowest growing sectors in the past 12 months, dropping 1.45% in January. Is the sky falling in on the banking recruitment market? Bob Olivier, the report’s author, and director at Olivier Recruitment Group, says he’s not convinced: “We’re putting it down to interest... Read more

Senior women in Australia earn 50% less than their male counterparts, according to a Federal Government report. Is the same true in banking? No – at least not according to Bob Olivier, a director at the Olivier Recruitment Group in Sydney. He says the report’s findings astonished him. “My experience is that clients won’t offer a job to Julie rather than Steve to save on salary. It might be that if... Read more

Australia hasn’t lived up to its promise for ANZ’s ex-group managing director, Steve Targett. How common is it for immigrant bankers to come unstuck? In the case of Targett, the stakes are high and getting higher. Last month, he upped his damages claim from AU$2.1m to a hefty AU$57m, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. Targett, a former banker with Lloyds TSB, claims he left his well-paid job... Read more