eFinancialCareers

Way, way back in March, stung by criticism of its handling of Northern Rock, the FSA declared its intention to up its intake of former bankers, including quant types to work on its frontline supervision teams, focusing “on the complex models used by banks to gauge financial risk” (FT). Its timing was impeccable. With thousands of banking employees subsequently let go and Lehman’s entire risk, compliance and trading teams on... Read more

Never has the cost of lax risk control been more stark. From $7.1bn of losses at SocGen to huge writedowns at the likes of UBS and Merrill Lynch, banks have learnt the hard way what it means not to keep a firm grip on their employees and businesses. As a result, we are seeing strong growth in compliance roles with a ‘monitoring’ element to them, for example trade survelliance and... Read more

To the ‘big swinging dicks’ hauling in the revenues on the trading floor, it might seem obvious that they’re paid more than the bank's back-office staff. But a new report suggests this imbalance is unfair and should be rectified. A wide-reaching 176-page study by the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group – whose members include Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley – says that the contribution operations and risk management staff make... Read more

Recruitment firm PSD Group has produced its annual salary and bonus survey, the long and short of which is…compliance salaries in investment banks are up 5-10% on last year and 2007 bonuses were the same or slightly higher than in 2006. The figures are: Compliance analyst: 1-3 yrs' experience, salary £35k-£40k, bonus 5-10% Compliance associate: 2-5 yrs' experience, salary £40k-£50k salary, bonus 10-15% Compliance manager: 4-7 yrs’ experience, £55k-£75k... Read more

Investment bankers with a legal background can be forgiven for eyeing their former employers with a certain wistfulness: banks’ business is evaporating, but law firms are still going strong. Freshfields, for example, posted a 40% increase in profits per partner last week. Unsurprisingly, some of the lawyers who opted for banking careers are now thinking of retracing their steps. “There’s a definite trend for people who are working as lawyers in... Read more

If you’re hoping to reinvent yourself as a restructuring professional come the M&A apocalypse, you could be out of luck. Instead of washed up M&A bankers, it seems restructuring businesses are interested in hiring lawyers with insolvency backgrounds. The last to do so was UBS, which recruited Matthew French from Lovells back in March, thereby following in the footsteps of Goldman, which hired Andrew Wilkinson from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft... Read more

Spending on compliance is supposed to double by 2010. Does this mean banks are indulging in a frenzy of compliance hiring? Sadly not. Instead, it seems the emphasis is on either shifting people into compliance from other roles internally, or trying to make do until times improve. “The volume of roles is very similar to 2007 levels, however certain investment banks are offering roles to internal candidates more... Read more