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Monday was Clifford Sacks’ first day as Ceo South Africa and head of Pan-African equities for Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank that is expanding aggressively in emerging markets. Before joining RenCap, Sacks, who is South African, was co-Ceo for SA and Sub-Saharan Africa at BoA Merrill Lynch, a well-respected investment banker with twenty years’ experience and a deep knowledge of African equities. His task is to open and staff a... Read more

Ratings agencies have had both their reputations and balance sheets battered by the financial crisis, but for the first time in two years there are signs things are looking up. And the big players are tentatively re-building their teams once again. Standard & Poor's has just reported its first quarterly rise in revenues in two years, while Moody's has issued a bullish statement about 2009 earnings expectations (despite posting an 11%... Read more

As mentioned last week, the threat of redundancy appears to be receding. With the exception of Commerzbank, which has indicated that it will make even more redundancies than planned at Dresdner K, and UBS, which has announced plans to cut another 2,500 investment banking jobs before the end of this year, most banks are busy implementing existing cost reduction programmes rather than announcing new ones. And Lloyd Blankfein has indicated... Read more

Expansion into Africa is serving South African banks well and providing significant opportunities for employment. Standard Bank, the continent’s largest, has pursued the most active and successful African diversification strategy. In 2008 profit from its African operations increased by 46% to R1.8bn, a performance Standard Bank Ceo Jacko Maree has described as “unbelievable”. Determined to strengthen its footprint in the 16 countries outside South Africa it operates in and also... Read more

Named, shamed and blamed, ratings agencies are looking a little ragged around the edges. Investors themselves may need to hire people to calculate credit risks in future. With triple A no longer a water-tight guarantee of a leak-free investment, ratings agencies could find themselves squeezed as investors take a more proactive role in analysing just what they’re getting themselves into. This, at least, appears to be what Ben Bernanke had in... Read more

Ratings agency types who thought they had a job for life are being made to think again. Ratings agencies have been known to promote themselves as kindly employers less inclined than investment banks to take an axe to the workforce when things go wrong. That cuddly image has just died a horrible death. Moody’s is reportedly slashing 275 jobs globally, Toronto-based rater DBRS is said to have cut three European offices... 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

Most people sit around passively waiting for the pink slip. Has Stan O’Neal gone for pre-emptive action? Ever since Merrill revealed a $2.3bn 3Q net loss earlier this week, there have been calls for Stan to step aside. Now the New York Times says Stan’s head has moved closer to the block after he allegedly broached a merger with Charlotte-based Wachovia without first getting the approval of Merrill’s board. Putting aside the... Read more

The head of recruitment at a big US bank says recruiters have nothing to fear. Admittedly, with banks focused more on redundancies than growth it doesn’t exactly look like they’ll be rushing to add thousands of staff in 2008, but that need not suggest that they won’t be hiring at all. The head of recruitment at one of the faster growing US houses in the City points out that there will... Read more

Rising taxes and falling returns are taking their toll on the co-investing craze. “The amended capital gains tax rules will impact people participating in company co-investment schemes that qualify for business taper relief,” says Chris Sanger, head of tax policy at Ernst & Young. “Assets disposed of before 6 April 2008 will be taxed at 10%, while those disposed of from 7 April 2008 will be taxed at 18%.” Co-investing is nothing... Read more

As the dollar falls, so does the allure of taking a job in the Middle East. Last week, the US dollar dropped to an all time low against the euro and three-month lows against the yen and sterling. With the US Federal Reserve expected to carry on cutting interest rates and the US economy suffering particularly painfully from the sub-prime crisis, the dollar's demise is expected to continue. What's good for transatlantic... Read more