Technologists in the banking sector need to start thinking about broadening their skills-base. The days of working in siloed teams, in one single function with a narrow field of expertise are slowly being eroded as financial services firms embrace scrum and agile development frameworks for their technology projects.

JPMorgan is a case in point; the bank is about to embark on a recruitment spree that will see 100 new technologists added to its tech hub in Singapore, and is also hiring for its offices in Delaware in the U.S. and Bournemouth in the U.K.

The main motivation for this is its decision to roll out lean and agile development models across its core processing unit – which oversees technology for back office functions within its corporate and investment bank – having initially applied it to pockets of its securities business.

The new recruits will work in ‘feature teams’, and will be expected to come armed with a range of skills. “We don’t want testers to only do testing, or developers to only do developing – we want people who can pull together to get the ball up the pitch,” says Matt Winn, executive director and securities location coach for the Singapore and Manila at JPMorgan. “This means having a range of skills, so someone might have a deep understanding of Java or Oracle, for example, but might also do analysis, architecture or modelling.”

All of this is part of a quiet revolution in the way that JPMorgan works in technology. Lead by the core processing unit’s chief technology officer, Simon Cooper, and consulted by Craig Larman – who advises corporations on how to apply scrum and agile methodology on a large scale – the bank is slowly breaking down the silos that have traditionally proven restrictive to technologists.

If you were a developer, for example, previously you would have had to move up into a managerial role in order to escape the associate level. Now, says Winn, VPs and even some executive directors are maintaining their hands on development roles while moving up the ranks and being rewarded for their core skills.

“We used to have an artificial glass ceiling that made it difficult for core technologists to move away from associate level, but this has been changed so that excellent developers can remain hands on, but still progress their career,” says Winn.

The likes of BNP Paribas and Bank of America Merill Lynch have moved away from the ‘waterfall’ system for running tech projects, where analysis, design and development of projects are completed before testing and user acceptance are rolled out. The idea of agile is to be iterative, meaning that testing and acceptance are carried out continually throughout the project. Therefore, it helps to have a number of different skill-sets.

JPMorgan started overhauling its technology team to an Agile methodology in 2012. It has around a third of its 25,000 staff working in IT functions – 3,000 of them related to the core processing unit – and said that it intended to increase the proportion working in comparatively low-cost centres from 26% to 40%, hence the focus on Singapore, Bournemouth and Delaware.

Unlike smaller banks, which often customise vendor packages to their technology needs, JPMorgan is keeping all development in-house, says Winn, which is spurring the need to staff up. “The people we take on are very capable, and can often quickly learn secondary and tertiary skills needed to work in the feature teams,” he says. “It also means that staff are empowered to see the customer feature from end to end, whereas previously they would have only seen a small slice of that.”

Winn admits that it will be challenging finding the requisite number of staff, and will be tapping the expat and local community in Singapore initially before opening up the search internationally. JPMorgan will also consider people without financial services experience, and already employs people in the team with telecoms and communications experience.

However, expect the competition to be tough. The initial screening process involves a tactical programming exercise – sent through the mail to prospective candidates – and it’s usually the top 10-15% of candidates who make it through to interview. Even then, don’t expect a conventional recruitment process.

“The team has the final say as to whether someone is hired, meaning that it’s a self-organised unit rather than having a manager push a new person into the team. The team itself has the final say,” says Winn.

You may recall that Deutsche Bank issued a preliminary statement on its results a few weeks ago. It wasn’t pretty. Deutsche made a loss of €965m in the final quarter, when analysts had expected a profit of €700m. In the fixed income currencies and commodities business revenues fell 31% year-on-year.

Ten days later, Deutsche has now released it’s full(ish) fourth quarter results and is giving a press conference on what went wrong. If you work for Deutsche, are thinking of working for Deutsche, or like to know what the German bank is up to, here’s what you need to know.

1. The return on equity in Deutsche’s corporate and investment bank plummeted in the last quarter  

Return on equity is the prime concern of banking chief executives these days. The ROE in Deutsche’s corporate banking and securities business is not looking good: it fell from 19% in 2011 to a steady 9% in 2012 and 2013. In the final quarter of 2013, ROE was -1% in the corporate and investment bank.

2. The cost income ratio at Deutsche’s corporate and investment bank was 95% in the last quarter 

With costs eating up nearly the entirety of Deutsche’s corporate and investment banking revenues in Q4, the bank doesn’t look in much of a position to hire. However, Q4 2013 was at least an improvement on Q4 2012, when costs were 117% of revenues.

3. Deutsche has mysteriously stopped stating how many people it employs in total in its corporate and investment bank  

For most of 2013, Deutsche broke out the number of people it employed in the front office at its corporate and investment bank and the number of people it employed in the back office. For the fourth quarter it’s only broken out the number of people in the front office, making it impossible to establish what’s really happening to total headcount – or to pay per head.

4. Deutsche Bank has had its annual fourth quarter clear-out of front office bankers 

Deutsche likes to dump front office investment bankers in the fourth quarter, just before bonuses are paid. In 2012 it got rid of 489 front office people in Q4. In 2013 it was less harsh and only got rid of 137. [NB: Deutsche dispensed with 251 people in Q1 2013, so Deutsche bankers may want to gird themselves until March.]

5. Deutsche Bank’s front office headcount rose after the first quarter

Despite the fourth quarter clear-out, Deutsche ended the year with 41 more front office investment bankers than it had at the end of the first quarter, which seems a bit weird when you’re supposed to be cost-cutting.

6. Deutsche’s all-powerful fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) business had a dreadful year

This is already known, but it’s worth noting that full year figures show Deutsche’s FICC revenues falling 25% year-on-year. By comparison, revenues in JPMorgan’s FICC business were stable last year. Deutsche Bank has been losing FICC market share.

7. Deutsche Bank’s nascent equities business had an excellent year 

Revenues in DB’s far smaller and less established equities business rose 20% in 2013 vs. 2012. JPMorgan’s equities revenues rose a mere 8%. The German bank seems to have gained equities market share.

8. Deutsche Bank’s M&A bankers had an not-so-good year

Deutsche Bank’s advisory business didn’t do so well in 2013. Revenues there fell 19% year-on-year. At Morgan Stanley, the comparable drop was just 4%. 

9.  Something bad has happened to pay 

Deutsche Bank cut the overall compensation bill in its corporate and investment bank by 14% last year. It’s hard to tell how this will pan out for individuals as Deutsche has stopped breaking out total headcount (see point 3). However, with front office headcount up in 2013, it seems likely that some fixed income professionals in particular will be paid significantly less than before.

10. Deutsche Bank has no intention of winding back its five year cliff vesting deferrals for managing directors 

Managing directors at Deutsche Bank have a large proportion of their bonuses deferred for five years and can only access them in year five. With banks like Citi paying a lot of cash this year, does DB have any intention of dropping its punitive deferral plan? Apparently not. At today’s press conference co-CEO Juergen Fitschen said employees had become quite accustomed to the long deferral period.

Investment banking has a reputation for being elitist, but it’s the private equity and asset management sectors that tend to employ private-educated Oxbridge graduates in the UK, and progress them up the ranks.

A new study from the Boston Consulting Group on behalf social mobility charity The Sutton Trust shows that for a lot of British-educated students from state schools, a career in financial services still remains elusive.

Almost 70% of those hired into the sector went to a top-30 university, says the study, and a large proportion of these went to Oxbridge. Around 42% of Oxbridge students are privately educated, it says, but they make up 65% of those securing a job in financial services.

However, while 51% of those working in leadership positions in the banking sector were privately educated, 68% of managers in private equity went to independent schools and this figure was 61% in the asset management sector. This elitism in private equity’s upper ranks isn’t surprising when you consider that 56% of new hires went to Oxbridge and 69% attended private school.

What’s more, those from higher income backgrounds and a top university were more likely to secure a job regardless of their degree discipline, while lower income candidates from less prestigious schools were only offered a position if they studied maths, economics or management – the mainstays of the financial sector’s graduate recruits.

The report is more of a call to action from the Sutton Trust, which has convinced Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Deutsche Bank to sign up to a £2.75m scheme to encourage students from lower incomes to consider a career in banking. Targeting these students early, encouraging them to study more mathematical subjects and apply to top universities is key to addressing the imbalance, it says.

This is the latest in a series of moves by the big banks to do so, following Credit Suisse’s Steps to Success programme, that targets ‘outstanding’ A-level students from London boroughs Tower Hamlets, Newham and Lewisham, and JPMorgan’s Residential Internship, which is aimed at academically bright students from poorer backgrounds.

In the UK, 30-40% of all jobs paying over £120k are in financial services. The BCG report suggests that only exceptional students from poorer backgrounds will make the cut, while it’s decidedly easier for those with a privileged education to make it in, and progress. Here are the key stats by sector:

Pour trouver un nouveau poste dans le secteur bancaire, plusieurs options s’offrent à vous : vous pouvez envoyer votre candidature aux recruteurs, postuler directement, essayer les candidatures spontanées, déposer votre CV dans notre CVthèque, ou vous mettre à réseauter comme un dingue. Si vous êtes franchement persévérant et accrocheur, vous pouvez même tenter l’approche directe auprès des responsables d’activités.  

Que vous vous décidiez (ou non) à oser cette dernière stratégie, il vous sera toujours utile de connaître les noms des personnes clés de l’établissement dans lequel vous postulez.

À cette fin, nous avons établi la liste suivante des noms qui comptent pour vous aider dans vos candidatures (a priori principalement à des postes de front office) auprès de Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank et Barclays.

25 noms à connaître chez BARCLAYS

1. Joe Corcoran – Global head of equities at Barclays. (NY)

2. Bill White - Head of equities electronic trading at Barclays.  (NY)

3. Jonathan Beebe – Head of equities for Europe at Barclays. (London)

4. Nick Wright – Head of equities for Asia Pac at Barclays. (HK)

5. Richard Cunningham – Global head of equities sales at Barclays. (NY)

6. Corinne Grain – EMEA head of equities sales at Barclays. (London)

7. Ester Li -  Barclays’ head of generalist equities sales at Asia ex-Japan. (HK)

8. Will Tovey – Barclays’ head of European cash equities product sales. (London)

9. Richard Evans – Barclays’ chief operating officer for equities. (London).

10. Adrian McGowan – Barclays’ global head of FX trading. (London)

11, Jim Iorio – Barclays’ global head of FX distribution. (NY)

12. Eric Schartz – Barclays’ head of investment banking front office risk and controls. (London)

13. Mike Bagguley, Barclays’ global head of commodities and FX. (London)

14. Ken Baynes, Barclays’ head of GBP liquidity management (Repo). (London)

15. Robert Bogucki, Barclays’ head of commodities trading for the Americas. (NY)

16. Moyeen Islam – Barclays’ senior European fixed income strategist. (London)

17. Tarun Mathur – Barclays’ head of UK rates distribution. (London)

18. Michael Graf – Barclays’ head of USD rates trading. (NY)

19. Marvin Barth – Barclay’s European head of FX research. (London)

20.  Jose Wynne. – Barclays’ global head of FX research. (NY)

21. Tim Whittaker – Barclays’ European head of equity research. (London)

22. Larry Cantor – Barclays’ global head of research. (NY)

23. Richard Taylor – Barclays’ head of European investment banking. (London)

24. Mark Warham – Barclays’ head of EMEA M&A. (London)

25. Paul Parker – Barclays’ head of global corporate finance and M&A. (NY).

25 noms à connaître chez DEUTSCHE BANK 

26. Andrew Morgan – co-head of EMEA equity trading. (London)

27. Stuart McGuire – head of European cash trading and global programme trading at Deutsche. (London)

28. Garth Ritchie – global head of equities, Deutsche Bank. (NY)

29. Thomas Patrick – head of equities for North America at Deutsche Bank. (NY)

30. Joseph Spinelli – head of North American cash equity trading at Deutsche Bank. (NY)

31. Brad Kurtzman – head of quantitative trading at Deutsche Bank. (NY)

32. Stephane Avis – head of APAC equities flow and exotic derivatives trading at Deutsche Bank. (HK)

33. Andre Crawford-Brunt, global head of equity trading at Deutsche Bank. (NY)

34. Rob Ebert – head of equity sales for APAC at Deutsche Bank. (HK)

35. Neil Hosie – head of Asian equity trading at Deutsche Bank. (HK)

36. David Folkerts-Landau – head of research at Deutsche Bank. (London)

37. Richard Smith – director of EMEA equity research at Deutsche Bank. (London)

38. Kevin Rodgers – global head of FX trading at Deutsche Bank. (London)

39. Thomas Hartnett – head of core rates trading at Deutsche Bank. (New York)

40. Zar Amolia – co-head of fixed income currencies and commodities at Deutsche Bank. (London)

41. Wayne Felson – co-head of fixed income currencies and commodities at Deutsche Bank. (London)

42. Mathew Blackwell – co-head of Asia fixed income currencies and commodities sales at Deutsche Bank. (Singapore)

43. David Beale – co-head of Asia fixed income currencies and commodities sales at Deutsche Bank. (Singapore)

44. John Eydenberg, co-head of US M&A at Deutsche Bank. (New York)

45. Mark Fedorcik, co-head of US M&A at Deutsche Bank. (New York)

46. Paul Stefanick, co-head of global investment banking coverage and advisory at Deutsche Bank. (New York)

46. Henrik Aslaksen, co-head of global investment banking coverage and advisory at Deutsche Bank. (London)

47. Thomas Poppensieker, global head of risk at Deutsche Bank. (Frankfurt)

48. Andrew Procter, global head of compliance at Deutsche Bank. (London)

49. Daniela Weber-Rey, deputy global head of compliance at Deutsche Bank. (London)

50. Andrew Reid – head of operational risk management at Deutsche Bank. (London)

25 noms à connaître chez GOLDMAN SACHS  

51. Rob Crane – co-head of electronic trading for Goldman Sachs EMEA. (London)

52. Stuart McGuire – co-head of electronic trading Goldman Sachs EMEA. (London)

53. Brian Levine – co-head of EMEA equities trading at Goldman Sachs. (London)

54. Ian Smith – head of electronic trading for Goldman Sachs in Asia. (Hong Kong)

55. Todd Lopez – co-head of Americas sales for electronic trading at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

56. Richard Tufft – co-head of European equity research at Goldman Sachs. (London)

57. John Sawtell – co-head of European equity research at Goldman Sachs. (London)

58. Arjun Murti – co-head of Americas equity research at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

59. Robert Boroujerdi – co-head of Americas equity research at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

60. Robert Drake-Brockman – co-head of pan-European equity sales at Goldman Sachs. (London)

61. Thomas Stolper – global head of FX strategy at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

62. Guy Saidenberg – global head of FX trading at Goldman Sachs. (London)

63. Simon Morris – head of credit trading for Europe and Asia at Goldman Sachs. (London)

64. Bryan Mix – global head of loan trading at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

65. Jonathan Meltzer – co-head of US credit sales at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

66. John Shaffer – co-head of US credit sales at Goldman Sachs. (New York)

67. Charles Eve – EMEA head of compliance for Goldman Sachs. (London)

68. Gilberto Pozzi, head of EMEA M&A for Goldman Sachs. (London)

69. Michael Carr, head of Americas M&A for Goldman Sachs. (New York)

70. Richard Campbell Breedon, head of M&A for Goldman Sachs Asia ex-Japan. (HK)

71. Charles McGarraugh - global head of metals trading for Goldman Sachs. (NY)

72. Greg Agran – global head of commodities trading for Goldman Sachs. (NY)

73. Colleen Foster – Americas head of commodities sales for Goldman Sachs. (NY)

74. Martin Wiwen-Nilsson – European head of commodities sales for Goldman Sachs. (London)

75. Alasdair Warren – head of the EMEA financial sponsors group for Goldman Sachs. (London)

25 noms à connaître chez JP MORGAN  

76.  Patrick Burrowes – head of cash equities for EMEA at JPMorgan. (London)

77. Simon Taylor – senior equity salesman for EMEA at JPMorgan. (London)

78. Paul Huxford – head of equity research for Europe at JPMorgan. (London)

79. Noelle Grainger – head of Americas equity research at JPMorgan. (NY)

80. Sunil Garg – head of Asia Pac equity research at JPMorgan. (HK)

81. Andrea Casati, co-head of Asia Pac equity distribution at JPMorgan. (HK)

82. Kazuma Naito, co-head of Asia Pac equity distribution at JPMorgan. (HK)

83. Tim Throsby – global head of equities at JPMorgan. (London)

84. Alessandro Barnaba, co-head of EMEA sales and marketing at JPMorgan. (London)

85. Sikander Ilyas, co-head of EMEA sales and marketing at JPMorgan. (London)

86. Marc Badrichani, co-head of Americas sales and marketing at JPMorgan. (NY)

87. Jeff Bosland, co-head of Americas sales and marketing at JPMorgan. (NY)

88. Damien Roche, head of Asia Pac sales and marketing at JPMorgan. (HK)

89. Troy Rohrbaugh, global head of FX & Rates Trading at JPMorgan. (London)

90. Guy America – global head of credit trading and debt syndication at JPMorgan. (London)

91. Alex Keil – head of FX and commodities EMEA at JPMorgan (London)

92. Mitch Rubinstein – co-head of global oil trading at JPMorgan. (Houston)

93. Leander Christofides, Head of European Distressed & Leveraged Loan Trading at JP Morgan, (London)

94. Camillo Greco – European head of M&A advisory team. (London)

95. Ina De, co-head of UK investment banking at JPMorgan. (London)

96. Conor Hillery, co-head of UK investment banking at JPMorgan. (London)

97. Hernan Cristerna, co-head of global M&A at JPMorgan. (London)

98. Chris Ventresca, co-head of global M&A at JPMorgan. (London)

99. Mark Goulden – global head of equities compliance at JPMorgan. (London)

100. Joe Holderness, chief risk officer for Europe at JPMorgan. (London)

Yesterday was CFA results day. As ever, only a minority of people passed the exams – 43% passed Level I to be specific, which was at least higher than the 38% who passed in June.

The CFA Institute, which runs the CFA exams, is notoriously coy when it comes to explaining what constitutes a pass and what doesn’t. In order to pass, candidates need to meet the minimum ‘net passing score’ across all topic areas. But the minimum net passing score is never given and varies year-on-year according to the deeply convoluted modified Angoff Standard Setting Method (explained here), which involves something to do with a set of CFA Charterholders sitting down and working out how difficult the questions really are and how easy it ought to be to pass.

To make matters worse, because the marks allocated to different topics vary, the institute says that strong performance in one topic won’t necessarily compensate for weak performance in another.

As a result, the 57% of people who didn’t pass the CFA exam yesterday may be a little confused as to why. All they can do is to sit the exam all over again in June.

Being inclined to control-freakery, the CFA Institute doesn’t much like people discussing their results. However, this doesn’t dissuade them from doing so. Analyst Forum contains various scores, posted yesterday, from people who claim to have passed and failed.

This is what the people who passed say they scored.

1. More than 70% in all categories.

2. 51-70% in Quantitative Methods and Financial Reporting and Analysis (FRA). Less than 50% in Economics. More than 70% in everything else.

3. 50-70% on five different sections (doesn’t specify which) and more than 70% in five others.

4. Less than 50% in Economics. 51%-70% in Ethics and Quantitative Methods. More than 70% in everything else.

5. Less than 50% in Equity Investments and Fixed Income. 51% to 70% in FRA, Corporate Finance. Derivatives, Ethics, Quantitative Methods and Portfolio Management. More than 70% in Alternative Investments.

6. 51%-70% in Corporate Finance. Economics, Equity,  FRA, Portfolio Management. More than 70% in Derivatives, Ethics, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods.

Based on these results, we’d say that number 5 looks closest to the wind. Interestingly, it implies that you can get through the CFA having scored around 65% in most subject areas. If you have any marks to share, please go ahead and share them in the comments box below…

Long hours, being available 24/7, dealing with hours of the mundane interrupted by moments of pure heroism… it’s almost the job description for a firefighter and arguably very apt for banking. When I left the fire service after 25 years to start a firm that helps top executives improve their sustainable high performance, one of my takeaways was that the business world could learn more than it might realise from a fire chief.

Firstly, when I was a young firefighter, I thought I was invincible. I thought I could work hard, play hard, and take risks with abandon. In some finance companies we work with I hear similar attitudes. They brag about the risks they take with customers’ money, about the long hours they work as if it’s a badge of courage, and, of course, about how they play even harder.

Although these attitudes can help young investment bankers and firefighters, they are also the attitudes that can get both hurt. For the banker it spells the recipe for brain fog, poor decision making, and even burnout. For the firefighter it spells a career-ending injury or worse.

The fact is that human beings possess a certain physiology and the brain and body cannot outperform this. Sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, the wrong mindset, and poor health habits will always take their toll.  And the costs can be severe.  According to Tignum data, 67% of top executives have metabolic dysfunctions or other health-related risk factors that decrease performance and productivity and 84% report that they don’t have sufficient energy to meet their daily demands.

Believing you’re invincible costs you the ability to stay in a job you love, it costs the organisation the loss of a talented (and experienced) individual, and too often it costs the customers.

Secondly, when I became a battalion chief I quickly learned that it’s what you don’t know that hurts or kills you. The same is true for bankers. Even when you are bombarded, under severe time pressure, by information and internal emotions, you need to step back and look at the problem from all seven sides. On a structure fire this means looking at it from the inside, all four sides, the top and the bottom. My job was to find out what I didn’t know. This didn’t mean I couldn’t act, but it did teach me to respect a thing called discretionary time. If I had five (whole) minutes to make a critical decision I should take as much of it as I needed to make the best decision possible. Bankers should do the same: discretionary time is one of the most important factors in risk reduction.

Finally, I learned that you can’t take better care of others than you take of yourself. We started each day with a thorough equipment check and routine physical training to be sure we had what it took to answer the bell. Too often, we see senior bankers and executives who just don’t get this. Neglecting basic preparation leaves you unable to energise those around you, unable to clear the brain fog needed for good decisions and lacking the executional stamina to lead hard fights through to completion. This type of short-term thinking can be catastrophic. There’s no logic in being responsible for a client’s investment and missing the most important investment of all – preparation for your own sustainable high performance.

Scott Peltin is co-author of ‘Sink, Float, or Swim’ and chief performance officer at Tignum, a consultancy for sustainable high performance. Prior to founding Tignum in 2005, he worked on the front line as a firefighter, as a captain, as a battalion chief, and as a division chief leading several fire divisions, serving in the fire service for over 25 years.

Conversation is supposed to be more art than science, but it seems the future kings of industry aren’t taking any chances. The below worksheet is handed out to MBA students by one of the top business schools in the U.S. It’s essentially an algorithm designed to help Wall Streeters and business school grads concoct pre-meditated points of conversation and anecdotes about themselves that would appear impressive at corporate dinners and cocktail parties.

Apparently they have a strategy for everything.

Schon vor einer Woche musste Deutsche Bank Co-Chef Anshu Jain ein rabenschwarzes Schlussquartal in 2013 verkünden. So verzeichnete der Konzern einen Vorsteuerverlust von 1,2 Mrd. Euro. Im Gesamtjahr generierte die Bank also nur noch einen Profit vor Steuern von 2,1 Mrd. Euro. In der Jahrespressekonferenz am heutigen Mittwoch (29. Januar) erläuterte der versammelte Vorstand jetzt das traurige Ergebnis. Wir haben die wichtigsten Folgen für die Mitarbeiter zusammengefasst.

1. Nibelungentreue zum Fixed Income-Geschäft

Im Geschäft mit festverzinslichen Wertpapieren gehört die Deutsche Bank zu den größten Playern rund um den Globus. Überdies stellte der Bereich in der Vergangenheit eine der Hauptertragsquellen des Instituts dar. Umso schwerer  wiegt es, dass die Erträge aus dem Fixed Income-Geschäft zwischen Oktober und Dezember im Vergleich zum Vorjahresquartal um 31 Prozent eingebrochen sind. Der Gesamtertrag des Investmentbankings tauchte somit um 27 Prozent auf 2,5 Mrd. Euro ab.

Dennoch bewies Co-Chef Anshu Jain zu dem umstrittenen Geschäftsbereich Nibelungentreue. Das Fixed Income-Geschäft der Deutschen Bank habe schlechter als die US-Konkurrenz abgeschnitten, weil das Geschäft in Europa branchenweit schlechter liefe als in den Vereinigten Staaten. Da die Deutsche Bank vor allen in Europa stark ist, sei sie von dem Einbruch im Anleihegeschäft überproportional betroffen. Hinzu kämen Sondereffekte, die mit dem Abbau von Altlasten zusammenhingen.

„Es handelt sich um ein volatiles Geschäft und es wird auch immer ein volatiles Geschäft bleiben. Wir stehen dazu“, sagte Jain. Zwar „rekalibriere“ die Bank das Geschäft, doch dies sei ein ganz normaler Vorgang und komme regelmäßig vor.

Die Entwicklung der Mitarbeiterzahl im Corporate and Investment Banking spricht ebenfalls gegen einen  größeren Kahlschlag. So verringerte sich  die Zahl der Front Office-Mitarbeiter binnen Jahresfrist nur um 2 Prozent oder gut 200 Jobs auf noch 8435 Beschäftigte.

2. Dem Bonus adieu sagen

Auf auf Nachfrage wolle Personalchef Stephan Leithner den Bonuspool für 2013 nicht verraten. Anders als die Konkurrenz habe die Deutsche Bank die Höhe der Boni noch nicht an ihre Mitarbeiter kommuniziert. Näheres werde der Vergütungsbericht enthalten, den die Bank am 20. März veröffentlichen werde.

Dennoch müssen sich die Beschäftigten auf Einschnitte gefasst machen. Denn wenn die Eigenkapitalrendite sinke, falle auch die Vergütung, assistierte Jain. Die Zahlen zum Personalaufwand lassen Schlimmes befürchten. So purzelten die Ausgaben für Gehälter, Boni und Sozialabgaben im Corporate and Investmentbanking um 14 Prozent auf 5,3 Mrd. Euro. Im Asset und Wealth Management sank er um 11 Prozent auf 1,7 Mrd. Euro und im Global Transaction Banking um 2 auf 1,2 Mrd. Euro. Lediglich im Filialgeschäft blieb der Personalaufwand mit 3,7 Mrd. Euro annähernd auf Vorjahresniveau.

3. Die neue Geheimniskrämerei um die Mitarbeiterzahl

Mit 98.275 Mitarbeitern zu Ende 2013 wies die Deutsche Bank sogar gut 50 Stellen mehr als vor einem Jahr aus. Dennoch hat sich der Konzern klammheimlich von der Ausweisung der Gesamtmitarbeiterzahl in den einzelnen Geschäftsbereichen verabschiedet. Veröffentlicht wird nur noch die Zahl der Front Office-Beschäftigten; die Angestellten in Middle und Back Office werden hingegen in der Infrastruktureinheit mit immerhin rund 40.000 Mitarbeitern versteckt.

Dies hat zur Folge, dass sich der Personalaufwand pro Kopf nicht mehr für jede der Sparte berechnen lässt. Auf Konzernebene ließ die Bank jedenfalls für ihre Mitarbeiter durchschnittlich gut 125.000 Euro springen, was knapp 9 Prozent weniger als in 2012 waren. Da die Festgehälter sich nicht so einfach senken lassen, scheint ein Kahlschlag bei den Boni unausweichlich zu sein.

4. Personalchef kündigt Umsetzung der EU-Bonusdeckelung an

Die EU hat im vergangenen Jahr die Deckelung der Boni bei 100 Prozent der Festgehälter beschlossen. Sofern die Aktionäre zustimmen, kann diese Schwelle auf 200 Prozent angehoben werden. Leithner kündigte unterdessen eine umfassende Vergütungsreform der betroffenen Gehaltsklassen an. Der Personalvorstand betonte dabei, dass nur ein geringer Anteil von der Deckelung betroffen sei.

Bedenken, dass die Bonusdeckelung den abgeschlossenen Arbeitsverträgen widerspräche und daher nicht umgesetzt werden könne, erteilte Leithner eine klare Absage. „Die ist ein kleineres Problem“, sagte Leithner.

5. Deutsche Bank hält an Bonussperfrist von fünf Jahren fest

Mit der Sperrung der Boni für leitende Manager auf fünf Jahre sieht sich die Bank als Vorreiter. Co-Chef Jürgen Fitschen musste unterdessen eingestehen, dass bislang keiner der Wettbewerber der Deutschen Bank hierbei gefolgt sei. Die meisten Banken begnügen sich mit einer Aufschiebung der Bonus-Auszahlung auf drei Jahre.

Sein Kollege Jain betonte, dass das Corporate and Investment Banking trotz dieses Nachteils keinesfalls in kritischer Dimension Personal verlöre. Dabei unterstrich der ehemalige Investmentbanking-Chef den angestrebten Kulturwandel. Leute, die bei der Deutschen Bank nur das schnelle Geld verdienen wollten, seien hier womöglich fehl am Platze.

6. Jain lässt Kritik an seiner Person abprallen

Fragen nach seiner möglichen Verstrickung in die Manipulation von Referenzzinssätzen wie dem Libor ließ der Investmentbanker von sich abprallen. Die Deutsche Bank sei in den vergangenen 15 Jahren von einem „Non-Player“ zu einer führenden Investmentbank der Welt avanciert. Er zeigte sich indes mitverantwortlich für das, was während seiner Zeit bei der Deutschen Bank schiefgelaufen sei. Allerdings ließe sich ein so großes Investmentbanking wie das der Deutschen Bank nicht von Leuten führen, die keine Geschichte in der Branche mitbrächten.

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Deutsche Bank and Barclays have some similarities. Both are big fixed income currencies and commodity (FICC) houses. Both have witnessed a senior FICC banker rise up and take over the entire institution (although Bob Diamond was subsequently ejected and Anshu Jain is still in situ). Both have recently issued pre-emptive profit warnings.

There the blatant similarities end.

Deutsche and Barclays seem to be dealing with their travails differently. Deutsche Bank revealed today that it’s going to be cutting costs by cutting pay and keeping its long deferrals, but made no mention of redundancies in its FICC business.

On the other hand, Barclays’ current plan seems to be to cut costs by cutting headcount – the FT said yesterday that the bank wants to trim 400 senior investment bankers in addition to the 1,700 it’s cutting already. Many of the cuts seem likely to hit Barclays’ fixed income business.

So which would you prefer? Lower pay or no job? Deutsche or Barclays?

Fortunately, Deutsche Bank’s equities analysts have put the situation at Barclays into some perspective. In a note issued earlier they said that cutting 400 managing directors and directors at Barclays’ investment bank amounts to a reduction of no more than, “2% of divisional headcount and maybe 10% of headcount in those pay grades.

“This appears a sign of continued tight cost management rather than a significant re-write of the business plan for the IB,” Deutsche Bank’s analysts add.

Maybe things at Barclays aren’t so bad after all? All will be clarified on February 11th.

Regional banks, Asian commodity firms and derivatives operations are mopping up newly unemployed physical commodities traders who have been left without jobs after the big international banks starting exiting the business segment.

Trading hard commodities used to be big business for the bulge bracket banks, but with several leaving the arena – Bank of America Merrill Lynch being the latest to join the rush for the exits – a number of front office roles have been made redundant in the respective Singapore units.

Gerard Milligan, strategic account director of Randstad Singapore, says that with rising levies, profits are too thin to warrant the risk of dealing with different jurisdictions and regulations. And, he adds, many of the teams have been retrenched, rather than redeployed into other areas. Some of the Asian banks, he says, have taken on new staff as the banks refocus on core trading activities.

Of the major international banks only Barclays, Citi and Goldman Sachs still have significant presence in physical commodities.

Links

Bleak funding outlook could affect Singapore bank bonuses

New Singapore crack-down on money laundering a boost to AML roles

Chris Mead, regional director at Hays Singapore, says  a number of Tier 1 banks in Singapore are closing or have closed their hard commodities businesses, and restructuring to focus on more core trading initiatives.

But newly unemployed traders may not stay that way for long, Mead says.

“There are a number of other avenues for traders who are willing to look slightly outside their comfort zones. Up and coming regional banks still have a demand for commodity traders – in particular the Australian banks. Alternatively, traders could always try to look for a suitable role in commodity trading firms, who continue to grow in Singapore.”

Mead says Chinese trading firms and oil majors are aggressively building their presence in Singapore.  ”That could provide another good option for physical traders who are looking for a new role.”

Among the banks and firms hiring front and back office staff for their commodities operations in Singapore are Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Newedge, Senoko, Lukoil, Primesta, Castleton Commodities, and ANZ.

Mead says Chinese trading firms and oil majors are aggressively building their presence in Singapore.  ”That could provide another good option for physical traders who are looking for new roles.”

The other area witnessing strong demand for traders is derivatives. Milligan says clients are calling for derivative traders with solid derivatives product and instrument knowledge.

Among the companies hiring derivatives specialists are JP Morgan, Citi, DBS, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs.

Overworked junior members of Citi’s IBD business who are preparing to work all today, all tomorrow, and all Saturday have been given some very good news: this is the last week they’ll need to do that. From February 7th, Citi will be following in the footsteps of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse and offering its junior M&A and capital markets bankers mandatory Saturdays off.

As of next Saturday, Citi’s juniors must be out of the office and not working from home between 10pm on Fridays and 10am on Sundays according to a memo published by Dealbreaker.  If they want to work during this time, they’ll have to get permission from the head of their group.

Citi’s policy looks distinctly similar to Goldman Sachs’ policy. Goldman insists that its juniors vacate the office between 9pm on Friday and 9am on Sunday. Citi’s move is less generous than Credit Suisse’s admonition that young bankers get out of the way between 6pm on Fridays and 10am on Sundays. JPMorgan and Bank of America have gone for an alternative strategy of insisting that young people have one full weekend off a month (JPM) or four weekend days off a month (BofA).

As yet, there have been no moves to restrict working hours at the likes of Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley or the many mid-sized M&A houses known for their grueling hours. Nothing may  be forthcoming at Morgan Stanley, where James Gorman at Morgan Stanley has indicated that he’s not really a believer in mandatory weekends off. Deutsche Bank is said to be concocting something, but bankers there are getting frustrated. “We are desperately trying to hire people at the senior associate and junior VP level and can’t find people willing to work here,” a source told our US editor earlier this week.

Separately, it seems Citi is doing some huge hiring in India. The Economic Times reports that the US bank want to hire 2,500 people on the sub-continent. Some of them will join its investment banking business. It’s not clear whether they’ll be working on pitchbooks while Citi’s London and New York-based junior bankers spend Saturdays in bed.

Meanwhile:

Citigroup is hiring for its European gas and power business, which now comprises 10 people in trading and sales. (Bloomberg)

Bad news for Barclays’ bonuses: bank has another £330m charge to cover penalties and lawsuits in its investment bank. (The Times) 

Deutsche Bank has suspended the head of its emerging markets foreign exchange trading desk in New York. (Reuters)

Recruiter says there’s a pay ‘chasm’ between hedge funds and investment banks. (Bloomberg) 

Investment banking revenues at Evercore were up 17% last year. (Financial News)

“The answer is sorry guys, much better performance required before we’ll even consider” bonuses, Noonan, 70, said. “If any executive wants to leave AIB, I’ll shake his hand and wish him fair passage as he leaves.” (Bloomberg) 

Managing director at BCG Partners struck off from working in the City after lying ‘adroitly’ about attempts to poach stuff from Tullett Prebon. (FCA)

Why does Pimco need six deputy CIOs? (The Tally)

How couples can cope with professional stress. (HBR)

Man gets up at 3.30am every day for 150 mile commute (each way) in Renault Clio. (DailyMail) 

The idea that sleep is a waste of time is relatively recent. The turning point came with the invention of the electric light bulb. (Credit-Suisse)

Bei der hohen Zahl an Bewerbern, die auf jeden Job in den Finanzdienstleistungen kommt, sollten sich Kandidaten etwas Ausgefallenes einfallen lassen. Wer dies geschickt anstellt, kann sich deutlich von seinen Konkurrenten abheben. Falls dies jedoch misslingt, dann hat sich die Bewerbung rasch erledigt.

An zwei Fällen aus dem Investmentbanking lässt sich leicht illustrieren, worin der feine Unterschied besteht: So bewarb sich ein Student um ein Praktikum mit den Worten: „Ich könnte Ihnen natürlich viel Mist erzählen, welche Berufserfahrungen und Kompetenzen mich zum idealen Kandidaten für ein Praktikum im Investmentbanking machen. Doch die Wahrheit ist: Ich verfüge über keine unglaublich besonderen Kompetenzen und genialen Eigenschaften, allerdings verfüge ich über fast perfekte Noten und werde hart für Sie arbeiten.“ Auf diese Weise wurde er tatsächlich zu einem Vorstellungsgespräch eingeladen.

Andererseits gibt es das berühmte Video „Nichts ist unmöglich“ des jüngst verstorbenen Aleksey Vayner, mit dem er sich um einen Job im Investmentbanking der UBS bewarb. Dies zeigt sein Können beim Gewichtheben, Skifahren, Tanzen und Karate. Auf wundersame Weise gelangte es aus der HR-Abteilung ins Internet, wo es sich großer Popularität erfreute. Letztlich erhielt Vayner weder bei der UBS – noch irgendwo anders – einen Job im Investmentbanking.

Karrierecoaches geben hierzu zwei grundsätzliche Ratschläge:

Seien Sie gut dabei…

… und gehen Sie niemals zu weit.

Wir haben sechs Tipps zusammengestellt, wie Sie mit einer frechen und ausgefallenen Bewerbung tatsächlich ans Ziel gelangen:

1. Nehmen Sie das Heft in die eigene Hand

Falls Sie den Mut dazu aufbringen, dann können Sie versuchen, ein Vorstellungsgespräch an sich zu reißen. Auf diese Weise können Sie sich wirksam selbst vermarkten, anstatt darauf zu warten, bis endlich die richtige Frage gestellt wird, rät Karrierecoach Jeremy L’Anson, der mit Investmentbankern arbeitet.

„An Anfang eines Vorstellungsgesprächs fragte ein Kandidat, welche Kerneigenschaften der neue Mitarbeiter mitbringen müsse“, erzählt L’Anson. „Er hörte aufmerksam zu und verbrachte die folgende halbe Stunde damit aufzulisten, wie seine Qualitäten zu den Anforderungen des Jobs passen, wobei er Beispiele, Statistiken und Anekdoten anführte, die seine Ausführungen stützten. Das Gespräch war kurz und strukturiert. Rasch wurde ihm ein Job angeboten.“

2. Geben Sie sich persönlich

Im schlimmsten Fall wird Ihnen nur mitgeteilt, wer Ihnen in dem Vorstellungsgespräch gegenübersitzt. Schon im Vorfeld sollten Sie versuchen so viel wie möglich über Ihre Gesprächspartner herauszufinden. Karrierecoach Simon North von Position Ignition empfiehlt, dieses Wissen bei der erstbesten Gelegenheit in das Gespräch einzuflechten.

„Es handelt sich um eine einfache Recherche, aber es zeugt von Aufrichtigkeit und zeigt, dass Sie sich einige Zeit auch mit den Menschen und nicht nur mit der Firma beschäftigt haben. Wenn Sie wissen, dass jemand vor einigen Jahren z.B. von JP Morgan gekommen ist und nach der Motivation für den Wechsel fragen, dann dokumentieren Sie damit, dass es nicht nur um Sie geht“, sagt North.

3. Versuchen Sie Ihr Glück über Social Media

Noch nie war es so leicht wie im Social Media-Zeitalter an die Entscheidungsträger in Großunternehmen heranzukommen und von dieser Möglichkeit sollten Kandidaten reichlich Gebrauch machen, rät L’Anson. „60 bis 70 Prozent der Stellen werden niemals ausgeschrieben. Versuchen Sie also einen Kontakt mit jemanden herzustellen – selbst wenn es nur über Twitter ist.“ Dabei sollten Sie jedoch stets smart und höflich aufzutreten. Dagegen sollten Sie bei niemandem ungefragt in der Bürotür stehen.

4. Seien Sie ehrlich

Falls Sie mit einer Frage konfrontiert werden, auf die Sie beim besten Willen keine Antwort wissen, dann sollten Sie nicht einfach fünf Minuten mit sinnlosem Gerede vergeuden, nur um irgendeine Antwort vorzubringen. Bei Finanzdienstleistern, werden regelmäßig schwierige Fragen in ein Vorstellungsgespräch hineingeworfen. Daher sollten Sie sich auch nicht scheuen einzugestehen, dass Sie die Antwort nicht kennen. Angeblich soll Morgan Stanley tatsächlich jemanden gefragt haben, wie man „Divertikulitis“ buchstabiert. Der Kandidat hat einfach geantwortet, dass er keinen blassen Schimmer habe und er hat dennoch den Job erhalten.

5. Beim Einsatz  moderner Medien ist Vorsicht angebracht

Trotz des Fiaskos des „Nichts ist unmöglich“-Videos können Bewerbungsvideos bei Berufseinsteigern durchaus sinnvoll sein, um sich von der Masse der farblosen Bewerber abzusetzen, rät North.

„Dabei handelt es sich nicht um Ihren Lebenslauf, dennoch muss es sich auch nicht um eine Übung in Narzissmus handeln“, ergänzt North. „Zeigen Sie sich selbst, wie Sie über etwas begeistert bei einem Drink sprechen, über eine Auszeit und die Führungseigenschaften, die Sie gelernt haben oder Ihren langjährigen Einsatz für das Hockeyteam. Banken suchen nach Leuten, die lange in der Branche bleiben wollen und natürlich sind.“

6. Betonen Sie Ihre Verbindungen

Über Vetternwirtschaft wird im Investmentbanking die Stirn gerunzelt, auch wenn Goldman Sachs-Chef Lloyd Blankfein dies als eine Lebensrealität bezeichnet hat. Zumindest sorgt sie dafür, dass Sie innerhalb des Unternehmens über Unterstützung verfügen. „Beim Einstieg ins Banking geht es letztlich darum, ob man kulturell dazu passt, und dass sich jemand formlos für Sie einsetzt, um sich auf diese Weise von der Masse abzusetzen“, sagt Headhunter Andrew Pullman von People Risk Solutions und ehemaliger HR-Chef der Dresdner Bank.

7. In der Öffentlichkeit stellt jeder einen potenziellen Treffer dar

Im Finanzdistrikt sind tatsächlich schon Studenten gesichtet worden, die sich ein Plakat um den Hals gehängt haben und an die Passanten ihren Lebenslauf in der Hoffnung verteilten, auf diese Weise einen Job zu erhalten. Dies stellt also längst keine neue Idee mehr dar; dennoch erfordert sie auch heute noch eine gehörige Menge an Mut. Falls Sie tatsächlich so etwas vorhaben, dann müssen Sie sich auf reichlich Spott und Unverständnis gefasst machen. Dennoch sollten Sie sich immer Ihre positive Einstellung bewahren, rät Faraaz Kaskar, der als Absolvent der Uni Leicester diesen Schritt tatsächlich in 2012 wagte.

„Einige Passanten spotten über Sie und sagen so etwas wie: ‚Ich habe einen Job und Du nicht.‘ Doch die meisten Leute, die wir trafen, waren wirklich hilfreich. Ich habe an die Passanten Lebensläufe verteilt und wurde zu einigen Vorstellungsgesprächen eingeladen. Abgesehen davon gaben mit die Leute Ratschläge, unterstützten mich und ermutigten mich, mit ihnen in Kontakt zu bleiben“, erzählt Kaskar.

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Parmi les cabinets de conseil en stratégie leaders dans le monde – avec 1,5 mds de dollars de chiffre d’affaires et 3.000 consultants dont 1.200 dédiés à l’industrie financière – Oliver Wyman s’est fait une place en France aux côtés d’autres grands noms du secteur comme McKinsey, BCG et Bain… Le responsable de la practice Services Financiers du bureau parisien, Bruno de Saint-Florent a accepté de nous dire pourquoi il a quitté BCG en 2008 pour rejoindre Oliver Wyman. Également au menu de cet interview : les ambitions d’Oliver Wyman en France, les projets en cours, les objectifs de recrutement, les profils et les personnalités recherchés…

Quelle est votre ambition pour votre activité en France ?

À Paris, Oliver Wyman a enregistré une croissance à deux chiffres en 2013  et nous sommes bien placés pour renouveler une telle performance en 2014. Concernant la practice Services Financiers, notre objectif est de travailler sur les grands projets pour les clients qui comptent afin de peser sur les grandes évolutions de l’industrie financière. Pour cela, nous continuerons à aider les acteurs à s’adapter aux changements notamment réglementaires, à se repositionner et faire valoir leurs avantages compétitifs dans ce nouveau contexte. À titre d’exemple, je voudrais mentionner une mission qui nous a été confiée : nous avons travaillé sur le rapport Cabannes sur les intermédiaires financiers pour le compte de Paris Europlace.

Vous avez également décroché un important mandat auprès de la BCE pour la mise en place du système d’évaluation des actifs des banques européennes. Certains évoquent également un possible mandat auprès du régulateur français. Est-ce que ce type de conseils impactera vos recrutements à Paris ?

Sur toute question concernant de façon spécifique des projets en cours ou d’éventuels mandats, je ne pourrai faire aucun commentaire. Quoi qu’il en soit, nous ne recrutons pas par à-coup en fonction des projets pour lesquels nous sommes mandatés, mais en continu pour faire croitre les « ressources » à moyen terme (des juniors qui deviendront seniors).

Concrètement, pouvez-vous nous décrire votre plan de recrutement à Paris pour cette année ?

Notre bureau parisien compte environ 275 professionnels dont 50 travaillent uniquement sur le secteur financier. Ce dernier chiffre – en légère croissance au cours des dernières années – devrait  progresser légèrement en 2014. Sur l’ensemble du cabinet, nous recruterons cette année à nouveau plusieurs dizaines de jeunes diplômés et de juniors issus principalement du top 5 des écoles d’ingénieurs et du top 3 des écoles de commerce (sans pour autant que ce soit un critère unique et absolu de sélection !). Sans oublier, un dizaine de stagiaires, comme chaque année, qui nous rejoindront pendant plusieurs mois.

Nous nous intéressons surtout, au-delà de la capacité d’analyse, aux points de force de ces candidats et à leur désir éventuel de se spécialiser sur tel ou tel secteur. Cela nous semble plus important que la logique de fongibilité que l’on retrouve dans d’autres cabinets et qui consiste à « produire » des consultants au standard pour travailler sur tout type de projets, avant de les spécialiser ultérieurement. Nous, nous préférons tout de suite créer une dynamique d’équipe s’appuyant sur des lignes de forces différentes et complémentaires pour chaque personne. C’est aussi comme cela que l’on favorise la méritocratie.

Quelle est la place des professionnels expérimentés dans vos recrutements ?

Plus à la marge, nous regardons évidemment les profils expérimentés : soit les candidats qui finissent un MBA, soit ceux qui souhaitent rejoindre le conseil après une expérience généralement de 4-7 ans dans l’industrie des services financiers dans des institutions leaders. Nous apprécions les candidats ayant eu déjà deux employeurs différents, signe qu’ils ont déjà été confrontés au changement. Au-delà de 7-8 ans d’expérience, nous avons pu remarquer que basculer vers le conseil s’avère plus difficile, quoique que cela dépende surtout de la personnalité des candidats.

Justement, qu’est-ce qui vous impressionne le plus chez un candidat en entretien ? Ce qui est rédhibitoire ?

Les candidats qui me séduisent le plus sont ceux dotés d’une forte capacité de créativité et de remise en question. Je me souviens notamment d’un candidat dont l’entretien – une étude de cas – était franchement mal engagé. Je l’ai challengé sur son analyse. Il a très vite intégré les critiques, puis a décidé de revenir en arrière pour proposer in fine une réponse tout à fait originale. Voilà ce que nous recherchons : de l’agilité intellectuelle, une souplesse d’esprit, une certaine résilience qui permet de dépasser les problèmes pour trouver des solutions. Le « pire » candidat est celui qui recycle ce qu’il a appris tel quel, qui se repose sur des routines…

Quels sont les CV que vous aimeriez recevoir aujourd’hui dans votre boîte mail ?

Les CV d’experts maîtrisant les risques et les différents aspects financiers de la performance ne me laissent forcément pas indifférents dans un contexte de modification réglementaire des ratios de solvabilité et de liquidité. Les autres profils intéressants peuvent être aussi bien des professionnels qui ont fait de l’ALM (gestion actif-passif), que des traders sur dérivés de taux, qu’un actuaire dans l’assurance ou encore un professionnel du marketing stratégique et de la segmentation de clients. Nous sommes ouverts à toutes les expériences pourvu que les candidats présentent les éléments de personnalité évoqués plus tôt.

Après dix ans de carrière au sein de Boston Consulting Group, vous avez décidé de rejoindre Oliver Wyman en 2008. Pourquoi ?

Les deux cabinets ont une expertise en banque d’investissement et de financement, qui est mon secteur de spécialisation. Néanmoins la logique de spécialité plus accrue d’Oliver Wyman et le modèle très international de son organisation me semblaient, ensemble, plus efficaces pour apporter au client une compréhension  fine des évolutions économiques et des leviers pour dégager de la rentabilité dans les activités de BFI. Le travail est véritablement collectif chez Oliver Wyman, j’ai par exemple dès ma première année travaillé en direct avec 20 partenaires basés sur 3 continents différents. Cela accroit la capacité de chacun à valoriser ses savoir-faire. C’est d’ailleurs cela aussi que l’on recherche chez nos candidats, la capacité à travailler dans un cadre international.   

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After a 13 year career in financial services, Deidre Critchley, senior banking services manager at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, decided to quit the City and start a jam-making enterprise. Five years later, she came back. Here’s what Deidre told us about escaping banking and then finding a new job if you change your mind….

Q: You left banking in 2007. What was behind your decision to leave financial services?

“At that time, my husband and I both had full time jobs. He had to travel, I had to travel and it was a demanding lifestyle. We moved house to a rural area and it was one of those times when you reassess your life. We had children because we wanted children. We’d got married because we wanted to spend time with each other. But the way we were living our lives meant that everything wasn’t really as balanced as we’d wanted. We reassessed our priorities.”

Q: Where did the jam-making idea come from?

“It was a question of indulging a hobby and turning it into a business. I set up a company called Jammy Cow [not this one] which made preserves and chutneys. I had the idea and wanted to try it. Starting my own business was hard work but gave me a flexible schedule to care for my family and was also a way I could put my skills and knowledge to good use.”

Q: Did you think you’d come back at the time?

“I didn’t know, but I knew that I had a strong skillset and I felt that the opportunity might be there to return if things didn’t work out.”

Q: You had a very client-facing role in banking. Did you worry that your clients might forget you?

“Not really. The City’s often portrayed as being a very transient place in which people move on, but there are also plenty of people who are in the same role for years. Now that I’ve come back, a lot of the people I knew before are still around. I also have some very good friendships with clients and colleagues.”

Q: Was it difficult to get recruiters to look at your CV after five years out of the market?

“I didn’t use recruiters. A friend of mine mentioned that Bank of America Merrill Lynch was advertising its Returning Talent Programme on Mumsnet. It was open to people like me who had been out of the workplace for a few years to care for their family. . I felt very lucky to be accepted onto the programme – at that time (December 2012), the employment market was still very slow and the people already in jobs seemed to be the only ones getting job offers. The programme made it far easier for me to take the first step towards returning to work.”

Q: And now that you’re back? How are you coping with the notoriously long hours?

“The idea of bankers working very long hours has been sensationalised. It’s no more difficult to raise a family if you work in banking than if you work in another sector.

I frequently travel for work and have a long commute, so I often start working on the train before I get into the office. However, we have a great flexible working policy I can either spend four hours commuting, or I can spend that time productively working from home. I’m not the only one – I’ll often have calls with colleagues or clients who are working from home too.”

Q: And what happened to the jam business?

“I had the opportunity to sell it, which I declined – it’s something that I may want to do when I retire perhaps!”

If you work for Barclays and are waiting for your bonus, you have reason to feel alarmed: the bank has just announced another £330m charge for legal and regulatory costs related to the investment bank. Precedent suggests this will be deducted from the bonus pool. Notably, Barclays has waited until bonuses are in sight before announcing the additional investment banking-related charges – despite kitchen-sinking all charges related to the PPI and retail banking scandals in the second quarter of 2013.

Not only are Barclays’ senior fixed income professionals at risk of losing their jobs, therefore, they’re all at risk of being paid a lot less than last year. Barclays’ CEO Antony Jenkins is under increasing pressure to cut costs fast. Barclays, “should really cut much quicker, and much deeper,” says Investec analyst Ian Gordon today.

Cut to Nomura.

The Japanese bank has just released its results for the third quarter (its fiscal year is a little off) and for the past nine months combined. And they look very good indeed. Firstly, revenues in the wholesale bank were up 27% year -on-year in the nine months to December and pre-tax profits were up 117% over the same period. Secondly, spending on compensation and benefits across the bank rose 11% over those nine months and – even better – Nomura says very specifically that money put aside for bonuses rose over the past quarter. 

Inevitably, it’s not all great at Nomura. EMEA wholesale banking revenues fell 6% in the third quarter and equity derivatives has had a challenging time. But – yet again – Nomura cited its rates and credit business as a big driver of European revenues. This is the antithesis of the message from other banks, which have been struggling in rates in particular.

As we reported last week, Nomura has been hiring for its rates and credit sales team. RBS has been Nomura’s favoured hunting ground, but there’s no reason why fixed income professionals at Barclays shouldn’t also give the Japanese bank a try.

Investment banks are starting to talk about expansion in the Middle East again, but it’s not in the places you might expect. While the large international firms get by with a few senior deal originators, following big cuts to their teams in the last 18 months, regional firms and boutique players sense a chance to secure talent that wouldn’t otherwise be available.

Despite the lag in investment banking fees in the MENA region since the 2008 crash, last year was positive. Fees rose by 20% on 2012, to $722m according to Thomson Reuters, but this is still around half of the 2007 peak of $1.4bn. Much of this is down to a surge in debt capital market activity – lead by HSBC and Deutsche Bank who have maintained their teams in the region – while M&A is still muted.

However, there remains sense of optimism about investment banking in the region. A new report by consultants Frost & Sullivan suggests that while the industry globally will see slight growth of 2.3% in 2014, investment banks in the Middle East and Africa are “characterized by high capital ratios, low reliance on debt, high profitability margins and high return on equity in comparison to their global counterparts”.

Global investment banks are talking in terms of the worst being over for the sector in the Middle East, but regional firms are spotting an opportunity. They’re expected to see “high growth and increasing competition in 2014”, says the report, as firms start vying for business on their own turf.

“No international banks are talking about bulking up right now, but the regional institutions are only happy to fill that void and are looking to grow their teams,” says Barbara van Meir, managing director of Dubai-based headhunters Vogel & Noor. “There’s also a comparatively large amount of activity coming from the investment banking boutiques again.”

The likes of Arqaam Capital, EFG Hermes and, to a lesser extent, Shuaa Capital have been hiring again this year. Meanwhile, the gravitation of senior investment bankers across to regional players – Simon Penney from RBS to First Gulf Bank, Michael Katounas from Credit Suisse to QInvest, for example – is starting to create jobs further down the career ladder, suggest recruiters.

However, more senior bankers have also been setting up shop on their own. Part of the problem for investment banks is that a larger volume of deals tend to happen below the $200m mark, and these are not big enough to justify the effort from bulge brackets. Therefore, former senior bankers at large international firms spy an opportunity.

Ziad Awad, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch managing director in the region, now runs Awad Advisory; Ali Asghar, the most senior banker at Lazard in Dubai, left to form his own boutique firm Emerging Circle in August, while deNovo Corporate Advisors, started by former Morgan Stanley managing director May Nasrallah in 2009 targets areas “not getting adequately served  by the bulge-bracket institutions”.

By their nature, these smaller firms are not likely to offer voluminous job opportunities, but are still providing some positions, that are proving alluring to experienced investment bankers in the region, believes van Meir.

Journalist Kevin Roose from New York Magazine has a new book out. Titled ‘Young Money.’ it follows eight (real) young bankers over the first three years of their Wall Street careers. Most of are in IBD. Most work on Wall Street. Mostly, it’s not pretty.

Roose’s book isn’t exactly Liar’s Poker, the classic coming-of-age-on-Wall Street book by Michael Lewis. Roose himself didn’t work in banking and he didn’t set about cataloging the boom-time exploits of big swinging dicks. Instead, he befriends and conciliates a varied group of confused young people who’ve mostly fallen into finance and are dealing with the fallout. Nonetheless, Roose’s book is a seminal tome on the reasons for and against working on Wall Street. It’s released globally on February 18th. Until you have a copy of your own, this is what you need to know.

1. It’s not the hours that will kill you, it’s their unpredictability

There’s a banking 9-5, says Roose: 9am to 5am. One of the young analysts he follows develops a routine – in the office by 8.30am each morning, work 16-17 hours, and then ‘head home for a beer and an episode of the Wire before bed.’

Sounds bad? It is, but it’s the lack of control over the hours that’s the real problem for young bankers. “My life doesn’t belong to me any more,” one first year analyst tells Roose.

‘Every day, a Wall street analyst works at the mercy of the associates, vice presidents, and managing directors above him or her, any of whom can request changes to any deliverables at any time,’ Roose points out. ‘An MD wants a bar graph instead of a line graph on page 6 of a pitchbook and it’s 3am? A good analyst will wake up and span into action.”

2. Most people in banking didn’t set out to be bankers 

Most of the people Roose follows didn’t want to be bankers: they wanted to be doctors, run a family chain of grocery stores, or work on engineering or sustainable town planning. They fell into banking to prove something to themselves, or to their families, or to all the people who thought they couldn’t make it into banking. Alternatively, the money came in helpful at a time of their life when they needed it (eg. the second year of college, when banking offered them an opportunity to earn $15k as an intern).

3. The work is worse than you can imagine

When you’re an analyst, Wall Street is full of obsessive pedants.  One of the analysts Roose follows gets her projects returned and, ‘marked up with changes from her boss who would do things like cross off her 2s and write in the word two, and realign her cells so that all the first digits lined up instead of the last digits.’

Roose (who went on a model-building course as part of his research) compares creating financial models in Excel all day to, ‘working in Christmas light factory and knowing that one badly installed bulb in a string of ten thousands lights will make all the other ones go dark.’ One fault in the model will throw the rest off.

4. You will change  

“I’m naturally an optimistic, positive, happy person. But I feel myself becoming a lot more bitter, a lot more negative,” says one of Roose’s analysts.

“He’d come into Goldman as a soft-spoken, cerebral kid,” says Roose about another of his subjects. “But in less than two years, he had developed a shorter temper and was quicker to point out others’ mistakes in a way that was often unkind. He was still capable of sucking up to his superiors, but he had little patience for people whose intelligence he didn’t respect.”

One year in, Roose says people in banking start to speak differently: their conversation is peppered with jargon like ‘top tick’ and they refer to their employer as ‘we.’

5. It is about the money  

One of Roose’s analysts meets with an MD at Goldman (Graham Campbell) who reportedly tells him: “You know, if money is not your main concern here, you should leave.”

6. Your non-banking friends will drop away 

Roose’s book is a catalog of lost girlfriends and boyfriends, of dwindling friendships and growing obsession with work. The long hours in IBD are part of a “a grand, unspoken social contract,” he suggests. “In order to fully belong, the first year analyst had to realign his priorities, replacing his own with the bank’s.”

A group of first and second year analysts club together and rent a house in the Hamptons for the summer. Another analyst says to Roose that he’s losing contact with old college friends who can’t afford to go out where he goes out. Another ends up immersed in the banking world both at work and at home when he moves into an apartment block filled with other young analysts.

7. You may become gross 

Roose meets with one of his subjects: “Five months into the first year he’d gained 15 pounds owing to a sedentary lifestyle and seen days a week of restaurant meals eaten at his desk. His eyes were tired, his skin was sallow and pale.”

 8. Only four types of people are suited to careers in finance

Based upon his observations, Roose postulates that only a few types of people work out on Wall Street long term. They are:

• Habituals – People who go into finance because their parents, family friends, or siblings have. The lifestyle associated with finance is important to them and they often go on to work in hedge funds or private equity.
• Locomotives – People who come in with an underdog’s ambition, who come from middle class or working class homes and pull their families up with them. Money is emphatically their reason for working in finance.
• Gunners – People who thrive on pace and excitement. They’re addicted to the dopamine and adrenaline or financial services careers. They might have been athletes at college. For them, the money is just a scorecard.
• Geeks – People who are genuinely fascinated by the machinations of the market, who delight in bond prospectuses and get lost dreaming about a collar trade.

9. The people who don’t work out are the ‘in-betweeners’

Roose says these are the people who go into finance because it seems like a stable career and they don’t know what else to do after college. They haven’t grown up in poverty, but they don’t have the parental safety net that allows for adventurous and creative work. Once they get into finance they realize it’s high volume, boring work under often hostile bosses who’ve stopped doling out morale-sustaining perks…

Buy ‘Young Money’ on Amazon. 

Les récents changements réglementaires ont rétréci le marché de l’emploi des vendeurs et des traders, le rendant encore plus compétitif qu’il ne l’était déjà. C’est pourquoi réussir l’entretien est indispensable, notamment pour les diplômés sans expérience significative.

Afin de vous aider, nous avons établi une liste de questions récemment posées à des étudiants de business schools ayant passé des entretiens pour des fonctions de vente et de trading dans de grandes banques. Si certaines de ces questions ont attrait à votre comportement, la plupart d’entre elles visent à tester votre connaissance du marché. Qu’auriez-vous répondu ?

1. Que signifie une séparation entre les banques d’investissement et les banques de dépôts type Glass-Steagall pour l’opérateur de marché que je suis ?

2 . Quels sont vos marchés ou instruments de prédilection ?

3 . Comment vous motivez-vous pour passer des appels que vous redouter de faire ?

4 . Vendez-moi votre action préférée !

5 . Comment pouvez-vous parvenir à maintenir une superformance sur les marchés ?

6 . Quel est le cours de l’or ?

7 . À quel niveau s’établit aujourd’hui le S&P 500 ?

8 . Sur quels titres seriez-vous à l’achat ?

9 . Quels titres voudriez-vous vendre ?

10 . Définissez ce qu’est un investisseur institutionnel.

11 . Quelle est la particularité du marché du Trésor américain par rapport au reste du marché obligataire ?

12 . Quelle est la différence entre les détenteurs d’obligations seniors et juniors ?

13 . Que permet la liquidité à un investisseur ?

14 . Qu’est-ce qu’un “Junk Bond” ?  À quel écart de rendement se négocie-t-il face aux bons du Trésor ?

15 . Citez  plusieurs bourses aux États-Unis / dans le monde

16 . Quel genre d’éléments rend une action très volatile à court terme ?

17. Quid des intérêts composés : mieux vaut-il 10% annuellement, semestriellement, etc. ?

18 . Qu’est-ce que la convexité ?

19 . Comment fonctionne la courbe de rendement ?

20 . Comment voyez-vous évoluer les taux d’intérêt sur les 6 prochains mois ?

Barclays let go an unknown number of employees within its investment bank in New York this morning, a source close to the situation told eFinancialCareers.This news comes just two days after reports that Barclays was planning to cut as many as 400 investment banking jobs, mostly in New York and London.

No names of those who were let go have surfaced, although earlier reports said that the U.K. bank would look to cut staff at the director and managing director level. A Barclays spokesperson in New York declined to comment.

Financial News reported on Wednesday that Barclays’ struggling fixed income business would likely bear the brunt of the layoffs. Jenkins recently said that he expected the “FICC revenue pool to shrink over time” and that there was an “implication in that” for Barclays. Salespeople and traders appear particularly vulnerable, as do jobs in CLOs and structured credit.

The cuts are part of Chief Executive Antony Jenkins’ plan to reduce costs by $2.8 billion by 2015.

Singapore’s efforts to boost the employment of locals is having the desired effect, with new government figures showing that growth in expat hires has slowed.

Singapore’s Business Times reports that the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Employment Situation 2013 report, released yesterday, revealed that higher-wage workers have borne the brunt of the stricter regulations for employing foreign labour.

Deloitte is the world’s top accounting firm

Deloitte has overtaken rival PwC to become the world’s top accountant by revenue in the face of rising pressure on fees and new rules boosting competition, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The International Accounting Bulletin said Deloitte , PwC, KPMG and EY, dubbed the Big Four, still dominate the sector with over two-thirds of the market, dwarfing the combined 33% share of mid-tier firms like BDO and Grant Thornton.

Citi joins other investment banks in ordering juniors to take time off

Bloomberg reports that Citigroup, the third-largest US lender, will require junior bankers to take Saturdays off and use all of their vacation time each year as the firm joins an industry effort to improve working conditions.

Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have already made similar moves.

ICBC buys controlling interest in major African bank’s markets unit

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s most profitable lender, has bought 60% of South Africa’s Standard Bank’s markets unit US$765 million in order to expand in commodities and currency trading, according to a Bloomberg report in the South China Morning Post.

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender, has also granted ICBC a five-year option to acquire a further 20% stake in the London-based business.  

The long working life of Singaporeans

Findings from the latest Manulife Investor Sentiment Index survey show that Singaporean investors expect to retire at 61 years of age and then continue working for a further nine years, well above the regional average of six years, reports Asia Insurance Review.

Financial services firms setting up in Singapore will struggle to fill roles

Channel News Asia reports that Malaysia’s fourth largest bank, RHB, which recently announced plans to ramp up hiring in Singapore, and China’s second biggest brokerage Haitong Securities, which opened an office in the Lion City last week, may have difficulty filling jobs.

Singapore’s unemployment rate stands at 1.8% – technically regarded as zero unemployment by economists.