eFinancialCareers

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

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

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

ABN AMRO Australia is about to disappear into the mothership, Royal Bank of Scotland, with an accompanying and immediate purge of management. Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it will buy the remaining equity in ABN AMRO's local unit and that Stephen Williams, RBS Australia's managing director, will run the combined ABN and RBS business. Angus James, head of ABN Australia and New Zealand, will step down. Will this... Read more

Lehman Brothers staff in Australia have been given breathing space to decide their future by Nomura’s expected takeover of their firm in Asia-Pacific. All employees in the region will be offered Nomura jobs if the deal goes through as planned. And in the meantime, the Japanese bank is said to be sticking to Lehman’s current salary levels for the rest of 2008. Patrick Everest, a partner at Jon Michel... Read more

Don’t be shy about showing off your extra-curricular experience on your CV – it may just set you apart from the candidate pack in today’s tough employment market. Jon Michel, principal of Jon Michel Executive Search, says including all-around abilities indicates that a candidate can work hard, play hard and is therefore robust enough to cope with the long hours in the banking sector. “Successful candidates will ideally be good... Read more

A slow final quarter awaits the recruitment market in Singapore and Hong Kong. With Wall Street and Europe delivering daily doses of bad news, many banks in Asia are simply too scared to sign off on new jobs. But the reflective mood in Raffles Place and Central also means that massive layoffs are unlikely. Financial employers are playing wait-and-see, leaving the chainsaw in the shed for now. James Carss,... Read more

Summer is coming to the City of London and Wall Street, but that won't do much for investment bankers cosseted in air conditioned offices far from a decent beach. By contrast, Sydney bankers are spending the coming down-under winter reminiscing about surfing and lolling about on the city's 37 beaches. It's a distinction worth noting. Not only is Sydney a good place to live (with stretches of world class sand and... Read more

National Australia Bank is to slash jobs in its UK businesses by almost a fifth over the next 18 months to cut costs by A$285m (€169.8m) a year. NAB, which owns the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland and Yorkshire Bank in England, said on Wednesday that it is to axe 1,700 of its 10,300 UK staff. NAB said it was five months into its UK restructuring and has already informed 400 of those... Read more

Australian IT recruiters report a rush of hiring as investment banks seek to enhance their technology systems. “We’ve seen a marked increase in demand for technologists,” says Sam Vargas, a consultant in the technology division of recruitment firm Robert Walters. “Banks are trying to become a lot more competitive in terms of their trading platforms and are looking to integrate trading and wealth management platforms. Most are adding staff.” Steve Hutchinson,... Read more

It was a year of two halves for Aussie bankers: the first good, the second bad. But some had it better and worse than others. 2007 was a good year for: Wealth managers 1 July 2007 marked a radical change in the way Australians plan for retirement. As a result superannuation inflows went through the roof. Recruiter Luke Heath from Chandler Heath, says wealth managers, in particular, made hay. “Private bankers, stockbrokers, financial... Read more

Citigroup’s global jobs purge is hitting home as the US bank starts to slash analyst staff in Sydney. And don’t rule out further cuts at other global banks in December and the New Year. Citi has reduced active analysis of Australian companies by 18% since early October, while New Zealand coverage has been more than halved. Predictably enough, this is leading to layoffs, with about four analysts given their marching orders... Read more

With strong hiring conditions internationally, now may appear a good time for Australian finance professionals to land a job offshore. But recruiters say the advisability of such a move is a question of timing. Vincent Bailey, from search firm Bailey Executive, says people should be looking to move offshore in their mid to late-twenties and then return in their early thirties. Bailey says investment bankers in particular can benefit from increased... Read more

Australia’s established fund management players are losing staff to smaller boutique players. Ratings agency Standard & Poors highlighted the problem in a recent report on the Australian market. As boutiques have proliferated Ben Sheehan, fund analyst at S&P, said established funds have suffered high staff turnover over the past six months as employees defected to smaller rivals. Sarah Elias, a consultant at Ambition Recruitment, says the majority of vacant fund... Read more

UBS, Citigroup and HSBC all plan to increase their market share in Australia's wealth management market, which could see some fierce competition for top advisors. UBS appears to be leading the race after poaching at least seven wealth management advisors from Citigroup, according to The Australian. Another two Citigroup advisors have reportedly left to join Macquarie. Simone Mears, director of search firm Profusion, believes that there is strong demand at all... Read more

Macquarie Bank has enlisted the services of a top business school to help it attract and retain staff. theage.com.au says Australia's top investment bank is collaborating with French business school INSEAD to offer a tailored Masters in Finance degree to its employees. As long as they pass, their fees will be paid by the bank. Nicholas Moore, Macquarie Bank's head of investment banking, is quoted as saying he hopes the course will... Read more