eFinancialCareers

When analysts and associates don't get on... From: Associate Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 6:04 PM To: Analyst Subject: wgl Can you put together a working group list in next hour using template I've previously sent you (vcards attached)? Contacts are MF, SF, C and me From: Analyst Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 6:35 PM To: Associate Subject: RE: wgl There is really no reason to get testy. I was here all night, you know that, and I am... Read more

Private equity is the new black in investment markets, and it's proving to be the new black for ambitious young finance professionals too. Despite high-profile failures, such as Airline Partners Australia's AU$11bn bid for Qantas, Australian private equity is flying high. Australia has experienced a wave of private equity deals in the past 18 months, with a series of bids worth more than AU$10bn and many others worth more than AU$1bn.... Read more

There's a new species of beast about to prowl the Australian financial scene and no one really knows how to recognise them. They are called corporate brokers, and like Australia's first coin-carrying migrants, they come from England. "I think they're like relationship managers,'' says a slightly bewildered banker. "All I know is they're nothing like relationship managers,'' says a recruiter, running out the door. But Oliver Darkes at recruiter Carmichael Fisher is a travelled... Read more

Where do you go to earn most in Australian finance? Not Sydney, not Melbourne, but Perth. The latest Hays recruitment salary survey shows there has been a significant salary spike in Perth, reflecting the local mining boom and buoyant economy of Western Australia. According to the survey, the average salary for a senior manager in treasury operations in Perth is AU$130k, equal to Sydney and ahead of Brisbane (AU$125k) and Melbourne (AU$110k).... Read more

Thinking of finding a new job? Have a little something to take your mind off it. Australia's financial services skills shortage is encouraging banks to offer tasty 'buyback' packages to keep stellar performers who threaten to defect. Anthony Ayers, principal consultant at Sydney-based Chandler, says the most common buybacks (AKA 'counter-offer') involve matching money – but adds they may also encompass anything from offering additional education, an offshore secondment, a promotion... Read more

Now's not the time to be a leveraged financier: the credit crunch is snuffing out recruitment. With private equity activity slowing to a trickle, recruiters say the most active banks in leveraged finance in Australia have effectively pulled down the shutters on new hirings. "It's pretty much ground to a halt given the fluctuations in the credit market in the US," says Oliver Darkes of Carmichael Fisher. "The traditional big players in... Read more

Don’t look now: there are some signs that the US sub-prime mortgage malaise has spread to the Australian market for financial services jobs. Private equity firms and corporate advisers were hit hard with a 9% fall in job advertisements during September, according to the Olivier Internet Job Index. The index also showed ads on the Internet for banking jobs fell by 10.5% in September. Report author Bob Olivier, a director at the Olivier... Read more

Just when you fancied working in the City of London, the UK government plans to up the tax on overseas workers. Right now, Aussies living in the UK who are non-domiciled in the country are exempt from paying tax on income earned abroad (e.g. from renting out Sydney apartments). The proposed rules will require all ‘non-dom’ people in the UK who have been working in the country for seven years to either... Read more

Private equity is the promised land for many junior bankers. But pay is being spread more thinly as the number working in the industry rises. The Australian market for private equity professionals remains small but has shown “dramatic growth” in the last three to four years, says Victoria Biggs, a consultant with Jon Michel Executive Search. Biggs estimates that the entire venture capital/private equity industry employs “400 to 500 people” in this country – which... Read more

With one breath local banking chiefs are assuring everyone jobs here are safe, with the other they’re quietly telling staff to pack their bags. Last week, Citigroup Australia became what may be the first of many banks to publicly let staff go. The struggling US bank retrenched around 20 staff in its Sydney equities and fixed income divisions, including members of its prop trading desk, just days after its local chief... Read more

Collapsing stock markets and tightening credit are bad news for most investment bankers. Restructuring specialists are the exception. If, as looks increasingly likely, the US economy lurches into recession, one senior economist warns that it’s only a matter of time before local defaults start to hot up. Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital Investors, says, “I would expect that if the US goes into recession... 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 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

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

Australian infrastructure investor Babcock & Brown has set a new record for staff cuts at a going concern. It announced this morning that it plans to cut headcount by almost two thirds between now and 2010. Babcock’s stock has plummeted 99% this year, and today’s announcement followed a warning that it was in danger of breaching its covenants and needed to reduce costs by $150m in order to halve... 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