eFinancialCareers

When RBS announced its 3,000 redundancies last week, it was notable that none of them were expected to fall in its insurance businesses. This may, of course, be because it’s in the middle of trying to engineer a sale of Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance. Or it may be because, with the exception of AIG, insurers aren’t quite as badly impacted by the downturn as banks. Swiss Life, Vienna Insurance... Read more

Ireland is seeing an influx of high-end financial IT jobs and is keen to tap UK talent to fill the roles – provided you don’t mind a pay cut. The Emerald Isle seems to have been a big beneficiary of Citigroup’s new centralised IT function and, following on from the 125 development roles in Belfast, has announced the creation of 30 new posts in its research and development centre in... Read more

It doesn’t pay the most money, or have the most exciting jobs, but recruiters say the City of London’s insurance industry is still hiring and that the jobs are hard to fill. This may, however, be because the requirements are fairly specific – senior underwriters with a background in flood risk and the like. “The City side of the insurance industry is relatively stable,” says Robert Charles, head of the... Read more

Typically seen as the refuge of grey-suited maths nerds, the actuarial profession is struggling to attract the talent it needs. A raft of regulation from the Financial Services Association, such as Solvency II, together with increased requirements from non-life insurance industries has seen a flood of new jobs. Paul Walsh, CEO of Acumen Resourcing, a recruitment firm run by actuaries for actuaries, says: “Even if the number of people entering the... Read more

The hot air surrounding the pensions buyout space is finally turning into substance, and guess what? Hiring looks set to follow. The buyout market has long been touted as a sector set to explode, but some bumper deals have thrown it into the spotlight. Last week, Rothesay Life, the life insurer wholly owned by Goldman Sachs, secured a £700m deal with leisure retailer Rank Group, and buyout firm Paternoster took on... 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

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

UBS is making thousands of redundancies. It’s not great for its fixed income or operations staff. Nor is it good news for other European banks. The Swiss bank made an impromptu announcement yesterday, warning that it plans to cut 1,500 jobs before the end of the year, following losses of €360m in Q3. The Telegraph reports that 350 of the jobs will go in London, while Kinner Lakhani, an analyst at ABN... 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