eFinancialCareers

Citigroup may be planning to axe more people than Goldman Sachs employs globally, but there are still reasons to be cheerful. The latest survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the CBI confirms that general sentiment across the financial services industry is now as low as it was in 1998 and 2003, neither of which were good years for banks. On the other hand, hiring plans appear to be going ahead regardless. Securities traders remain... Read more

Banks could find themselves in hot water over a propensity to assign clients to salespeople based on cultural affinities between the two. Last weekend’s Financial Times carried an article on two former Muslim brokers who are suing their ex-employer, the Swiss stockbroker Financière Tradition, for religious discrimination after it allegedly diverted Jewish clients away from them in favour of non-Muslim colleagues. Lawyers say client allocation could become a hot issue in the... Read more

Which banks and bankers are suffering the most? No prizes for guessing… ACUTE PAIN 1. Merrill Lynch Share price: down 44% since January 2007. Bonus per head*: $181.3k, down 25% on 2006. Net profit for the first nine months of 2007: $1.9bn, down 61%. Redundancies: none announced so far, but exit of chief exec Stan O’Neal is imminent. 2. Bear Stearns Share price: down 38% since January 2007. Bonus per head*: $407.6k, down 20% on 2006. Net... Read more

Spare a thought for the classes of 2007 and 2008. It seems investment banking jobs are proving hard to come by. A student at a leading European business school says banks are still coming to present on campus, but that with the exception of Credit Suisse, few appear to have any full-time places left for 2008: “Places have already been filled by last year’s summer interns. If you missed the boat... Read more