eFinancialCareers

As strong economic conditions keep pushing banks to look for top staff, it has been a busy week in Australia’s investment banking scene with some key people moves. The Australian Financial Review reports that Citigroup’s head of mergers and acquisitions, John Hanson, is heading to Merrill Lynch. Merrill's Geoff Brunsdon, managing director and head of investment banking at Merrill Lynch, has also snapped up Greg Quinn from Goldman Sachs JBWere and... Read more

It looks like UBS has done away with the concept of annual bonuses. The Swiss bank today unveiled details of a new bonus scheme, under which ‘top executives’ will receive (at the very, very most) a third of each year’s bonus at the end of the year in question. The rest will be put aside and only awarded if the bank/employee performs well and behaves nicely in subsequent years. “Should UBS's... Read more

Bankers are sitting on a profit of more than $25bn (€21bn) on their share options on the back of the meteoric rise in financial stock prices on both sides of the Atlantic over the past 12 months. The recovery in banking stocks has left staff at the biggest US and European banks with share options worth a total of almost $100bn at the start of this year. Figures compiled by Financial... Read more

Investment banks operating in Australia need financial controllers, management accountants, financial accountants, and people with Sarbanes-Oxley experience, and they are pulling out all the stops to get them. This is the verdict of recruiters active in the sector. “To say we need accountants here is an understatement,” says Elizabeth Warren, an associate director at Michael Page in Sydney, “We’ve had candidate shortages before in 2000, but this is definitely worse.” The lack... Read more

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

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

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

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

While the domestic shares market continues to bubble away, there are signs that those who analyse the stocks within the market have evaporated. But with guaranteed bonuses and higher salaries back in fashion, Fiona Weeks, a consultant with Jon Michel Executive Search, says this candidate-tight market – from junior through to senior roles – has seen applicants being lured across from areas outside pure research. “If we’re looking for an infrastructure... Read more

Morgan Stanley has extended its global prime brokerage business, which finances hedge funds, by opening an office in Sydney, Australia. The bank will etablish the operation with initially four staff, according to a spokeswoman in Hong Kong. The office will complement its existing Asian operations in Tokyo and Hong Kong, from which it has served the Australian market since 1997. It plans to take advantage of anticipated growth in the Australian... Read more

M&A bankers at Macquarie will soon learn what their bonuses are for the past financial year. Recruiters say the news should be good. And if it isn’t, they should have no problem finding alternative roles elsewhere. “Profits at Macquarie are up, so bonuses are also likely to be up,” says one search consultant. “Most people are fairly confident.” Earlier this month, Macquarie reported a 30% year on year increase in profitability in... Read more

When it comes to having a few ‘mistruths’ on your resume, or ‘inflating’ your salary to a prospective employer, don’t even let it cross your mind. These days, it is common practice for a company to run a detailed background check on an applicant. In fact, gone are the days when all a company does is contact the referees that the candidate has nominated. Angus Price, a partner from search firm... Read more