It seems that Barclays will not be paying atrocious bonuses after all. Despite a pressing need to cut costs at the British bank, it was reported yesterday that Barclays will increase its overall bonus pool from £1.85bn in 2012 to to £2.4bn in 2013. Much of this increase may go to Barclays’ investment bankers: BBC business editor Robert Peston says Barclays’ board has been fretting about a rush of defections to higher paying US investment banks and will therefore be maintaining pay for many and increasing pay for some at the entity formerly known as Barclays Capital.

Separately, Institutional Investor offers an interesting perspective on what it really takes to get into Goldman Sachs. The paper interviewed Gilberto Pozzi, Goldman’s European head of M&A.  A Bocconi graduate, Pozzi applied for over 70 internships whilst at university and finally landed one on the credit and derivatives at Credit Suisse in Paris. This being a French internship, Pozzi spent four years at CS before deciding to leave and study an MBA in an attempt to move into IBD. He chose Wharton and from there went to Goldman.

However, even the Wharton name on his CV didn’t mean Pozzi was a shoe-in. Goldman rejected his initial application. “They wrote and told me I didn’t have the right skills, but I lobbied them until they gave me an interview,” said Pozzi. It may have helped that Pozzi fit Goldman’s preferred profile: he didn’t come from a wealth family and was hungry to make money. “My parents came from a modest background, so it was clear I would need to find a real job,” Pozzi declared.

Meanwhile:

Having dismissed people in FX scandal, Barclays appoints junior trader as head of FX desk. (Financial Times) 

Credit Suisse expects a CFH522m restructuring and IT charge last year to be repeated each year until 2015 before declining. (WSJ) 

Hedge funds with less than £1bn in assets under management can people however the hell they want, says regulator. (Hedge-compliance) 

Why bankers love Birmingham. (Tally)

An interactive guide to the capital markets, by Goldman Sachs. (NYTimes) 

Cheeky Goldman banker woos naïve non-finance graduate. (Business Insider) 

How anyone can become addicted to money. (INC)

Mathew Martoma, formerly a manager with SAC Capital, has been convicted of insider trading and faces up to 20 years in prison. (The Times) 

Former finance types set up successful cleaning business. (Evening Standard) 

Faire la conversation relève a priori plus d’un art que d’une science, enfin pas pour les futurs rois de l’industrie financière, qui sur ce terrain préfèrent ne pas prendre de risque. Le document, ci-dessous, a été remis aux étudiants d’un MBA de l’une des plus prestigieuses business schools américaines. Il s’agit d’un tableau à remplir par les aspirants financiers afin qu’ils concoctent toutes sortes d’anecdotes pour se valoriser aussi bien lors d’entretiens d’embauche que pendant les dîners et autres coktails mondains. 

Attention, rien ne doit être laissé au hasard. Tous les sujets sont extrêmement quadrillés.

Unter den Mitarbeitern von Vontobel dürfte heute so mancher ein breites Grinsen im Gesicht haben. Dies legt zumindest der jetzt publizierte Jahresabschluss nahe. Obgleich die Erträge nur um 10 Prozent auf 849 Mio. Franken und der Vorsteuergewinn um gerade einmal 4 Prozent auf 153 Mio. Franken stiegen, hob Vontobel den Personalaufwand um 15 Prozent auf 452 Mio. Franken an. Gleichzeitig verringerte sich die Mitarbeiterzahl um 46 auf nur noch 1338 Beschäftigte – also mehr Geld für weniger Mitarbeiter.

Von dem Geldsegen profitierten vor allem die 258 Asset Manager, die durchschnittlich über 688.000 Franken erhielten. Dies stellt nicht nur einen Aufschlag von 46 Prozent gegenüber 2012 dar, sondern auch mehr als das Doppelte der Vergütungen im Investmentbanking. Der Spartengewinn vor Steuern kletterte allerdings auch um 37 Prozent auf gut 103 Mio. Franken.

Auch die Geschäfte im Private Banking liefen in 2013 recht gut – den Aktienmärkten sei Dank. Das Segmentergebnis vor Steuern legte hier sogar um 56 Prozent auf gut 59 Mio. Franken zu. Mithin hob die Bank die Ausgaben für Vergütungen und Sozialabgaben in der Sparte um 15 Prozent auf durchschnittlich 262.000 Franken an.

Dagegen brach der Vorsteuergewinn im Investmentbanking um 18 Prozent auf knapp 57 Mio. Franken ein. Dennoch stieg der Personalaufwand pro Kopf leicht um 3 Prozent auf 256.000 Franken.

Quelle: Vontobel Jahresabschluss / eFinancialCareers.ch

Insgesamt ließ die Bank für jeden Mitarbeiter durchschnittlich 338.000 Franken springen. In diesen Zahlen sind jedoch Ausgaben für Sozialabgaben, Altersvorsorgeleistungen etc. enthalten. Der Unterschied zu den Bruttogehältern samt Boni lässt sich allerdings genau beziffern. Laut dem Vergütungsbericht entfielen vom Personalaufwand von insgesamt 452,2 Mio. Franken allein 386,9 Mio. Franken auf Gehälter und Boni. Mithin müssen rund 14 Prozent von den Angaben in der Tabelle abgezogen werden, um zu den Bruttovergütungen zu gelangen.

Interessant ist auch, dass der Anteil des Bonuspools nur sehr gering ist. So weist Vontobel Aktienboni von 13,9 Mio. und Barboni von 8,7 Mio. Franken aus. Also beläuft sich der Bonuspool auf gerade einmal 22,6 Mio. Franken oder 6 Prozent der Ausgaben für Gehälter und Boni.

Quelle: Vontobel Jahresabschluss / eFinancialCareers.ch

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Four years ago, Asia was the promised land for the ambitious banker who wanted a sparkling future. Not any more.

“People are calling me every day from Hong Kong and Singapore and saying they want to move back to Wall Street,” says Jeanne Branthover, the New York-based head of Boyden’s global financial services practice. “But it’s very difficult to come back from Asia now. Few people can move with their firms and it’s tough to find a job on Wall Street unless you’re on the ground.” 

2014 will be all about banks recruiting for the North American market, predicts Branthover. “We’ve just had our weekly call with our consultants all around the world and everyone’s in agreement that their clients are either pushing into the U.S. or growing what they have here already.

“Two or three years ago, everyone was in agreement that emerging markets were where the growth was going to be and that was where banks were hiring. That’s no longer the case. Now all the noise is around the U.S,” she adds.

The emerging markets bubble is in the process of deflating. The FTSE all-world index is down 5% so far this year and there are concerns over Chinese economic growth and the stability of the Chinese banking system. The U.S., by comparison, is seen as a safe haven. Such is the desperation to get back to Wall Street that Branthover says some American bankers are ditching their Asian positions and returning to the U.S. without jobs lined up. “It’s causing real hardship,” she says.

Nor is Europe a much better bet. Investment banking fees in European markets were at their lowest level for 10 years in January 2014. Coupled with the high cost of living in London, Branthover says the moribund market is prompting City-based American bankers to examine their U.S. options: “It used to be that people were dying to go to London. Now it’s the other way around.”

International banks are certainly expanding on Wall Street. Nomura wants to hire 20 M&A bankers in the U.S. this year. Deutsche wants to rebuild its US fixed income business. And UBS’s global head of equities told Financial News that they want to take market share in America this year and will be “growing judiciously” there.

Nonetheless, it’s not easy for senior dealmakers to move back to the U.S. market. Gary Goldstein, CEO of US-based search firm Whitney Partners, says most of the hiring in New York City is now happening at middle market boutiques: “There’s been a ground-shift in the industry. As big banks focus only on the largest deals, the middle market is now defined as anything below $5bn and that’s creating huge opportunities for smaller firms, many of which are hiring like crazy.” Unfortunately, Goldstein says these mid-market M&A firms are mostly focused on national deals and therefore have limited appetite for American bankers who’ve developed a client base overseas.

Not everyone is overwhelmingly pro the U.S. market, however. Michael Karp, chief executive of global financial services search firm The Options Group, is predicting a comeback in Europe this year. “Europe has been quiet for a while and we see momentum picking up in there and more financial institutions hiring this year. Americas is already very active,” he told us, omitting to make any mention of the prospects for Asian hiring this year…

Credit Suisse may be trimming pay, but the same cannot be said for Vontobel, the small Swiss bank with investment banking, asset management and wealth management arms.

Our German editor has been crunching the Vontobel numbers and concluded that the Swiss bank is an exceptionally good payer – as long as you work in its asset management arm.

Last year, Vontobel paid its average asset manager CHF688k (£467k, $763k) making it one of the best paying (if not the best paying) bank in the world. This was 46% up on 2012 following a healthy increase in assets under management, revenues and profits.

Unfortunately, Vontobel’s investment bankers didn’t do quite so well. Their pay increased a mere 3% last year, to CHF256k.

Global banks appear ill-prepared to handle the sheer amount of effort required to complete impending stress tests and will likely need to add risk professionals and other staffers to complete the work, according to a new PwC report.

The study results are interesting as they showcase one of the major problems regulators have with banks: they can be arrogant in their self-assessments. “Of course we’re fine!”

PwC found that all 24 banks included in the survey are confident in their ability to meet regulatory requirements and pass stress tests, which determine whether a firm is well-capitalized enough to withstand a major economic collapse. Yet, only 13% of respondents reported they already have sufficient, adequately skilled staff to conduct the actual regulatory stress testing. Confidence comes easy I guess.

Either way, more bodies are needed, and that means hiring. Only 12% of banks included in the survey currently employ more than 20 people to support their core stress testing teams. As context, various U.S. banks that weren’t included in the study employ between 40 and 70 “stress testers.” One unnamed American bank says that it has 500 people dedicated to regulatory testing (please, for their sake, make it J.P. Morgan).

“The way global banks prepare for stress testing needs to change. Past experience has shown that very demanding regulatory stress testing regimes require larger teams with the appropriate skills,” said Keith Ackerman, PwC financial services risk and prudential partner.

So, if you have a background in risk management or accounting, now may be a decent time to shop around, particularly at non-U.S. banks.

Why Wall Street is Afraid of Bill de Blasio (eFinancialCareers)

How big of an effect would de Blasio’s new tax have? That all depends on how many zeros are in your paycheck.

DB Bonuses (Reuters)

Deutsche Bank capped cash bonuses at roughly $400,000. For many in the U.S., the cap likely doesn’t matter. A DB source told eFinancialCareers: “Nothing very exciting. I think we are in line with Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. People are used to the pay now I think. Probably similar numbers to last year but far less grumbling.”

Barclays Bonuses (Reuters)

Bonus payments at Barclays may not be as bad as expected. The bank has reportedly put aside nearly $4 billion for bonuses, an 11% increase over last year. Barclays laid off hundreds of bankers just last week.

Cost Control Problems (eFinancialCareers)

Credit Suisse is targeting a cost-income ratio in its investment bank of 70%. In the fourth quarter it was 101%. Oops.

Killer Quarter (PR)

KKR saw its quarterly profit nearly triple year-over-year on the back of increased management fees and a well-performing investment portfolio. Perhaps the best news is they appear to be still hiring. Operating expenses were up due to headcount growth.

They Swear to God (Bloomberg)

The Netherlands is very serious in its demands that bankers remain ethical. All 90,000 Dutch bankers will be required to recite this pledge, or a non-religious alternative: “I swear that I will do my utmost to preserve and enhance confidence in the financial-services industry. So help me God.”

Guilty (WSJ)

Former SAC Capital Advisors LP portfolio manager Mathew Martoma was found guilty of insider trading on Thursday following two days of jury deliberation. Prosecutors still haven’t gotten to founder Steven A. Cohen, but man have they tried.

Buzz Around the Office

Hopefully Life Doesn’t Imitate Art (Buzzfeed)

Wellesley College students are complaining to school officials about a shockingly life-like piece of art that’s new to campus. It’s a sleepwalking man in his underwear.

Quote of the Day: “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray

If you’re looking for a job in fixed income sales and trading, equities or IBD and are wondering which European bank to work for in the next 12 months, we would like to draw your attention to the following chart from banking analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Deutsche Bank’s FICC business doesn’t look too good. Nor does anything at RBS.

In den Banken findet jetzt reihum der „DOLF-Day“ statt. An diesem denkwürdigen „Day of long faces“ erfahren die Bankangestellten alljährlich, welchen Bonus sie für das abgelaufene Jahr erhalten. Bei vielen Banken fällt dieses Ereignis traurig aus. Um die Stimmung ein wenig aufzuhellen und weil das Wochenende unerbittlich naht, haben wir ein Ranking der besten Bankerwitze zusammengestellt:

1. Zu Boni:

Drei Banker unterhalten sich darüber, was sie mit ihrem Bonus für 2013 anstellen wollen:

Goldman Sachs-Investmentbanker: Ich kaufe einen Ferrari und mache mit dem Rest eine Weltreise.

Deutsche Bank-Investmentbanker: Ich kaufe mir eine Wohnung in Gstaad.

Sparkassen-Angestellter: Ich kaufe mir ein Hemd.

Die beiden Investmentbanker: Und der Rest?

Sparkassen-Angestellter: Den gibt Mutti dazu.

2. Zum Thema Bilanzen:

Wie sieht eine Bankbilanz aus?

On the left there is nothing right and on the right is nothing left.

3. Zur Finanzkrise:

Worin besteht der Unterschied zwischen  Kapitalismus und Sozialismus?

Im Sozialismus wird erst verstaatlicht und dann ruiniert; im Kapitalismus erst ruiniert und dann verstaatlicht.

4. Über Aktionäre:

Bankaktionäre sind dumme und freche Leute. Dumm, weil sie Aktien von Banken kaufen und frech, weil sie dann auch noch Dividende haben wollen.

5. Über Trader:

Nachdem die Märkte geschlossen sind, brütet ein Investmentbanker noch spät abends im Büro über seinen Unterlagen. Plötzlich riecht es nach Schwefel und aus einer Rauchwolke entsteigt der Teufel höchstpersönlich: „Ab sofort kennst Du bereits am Vortag, wie sich die Aktienkurse später entwickeln werden. Allerdings wird dafür Deine Seele für ewig in der Hölle schmoren.“

Investmentbanker: „Und wo ist der Haken?“

6. Über das Schweizer Bankgeheimnis:

Eine deutsche Feministin geht mit einem Köfferchen in eine Schweizer Bankfiliale.

Fragt der Schaltermitarbeiter: „Wie viel wollen Sie den einzahlen?“

Die Deutsche: „Psst! Nicht so laut, 1 Mio. Euro.“

Der Schweizer: „Sie können ruhig lauter reden. Armut ist in der Schweiz keine Schande.“

7. Über die Märkte:

Wie macht man an der Börse ein kleines Vermögen?

In dem man mit einem großen anfängt.

8. Über Anlageberatung:

Kunde kommt in eine Bank: „Ich möchte meinen Anlageberater sprechen.“

Antwort: „Der ist leider nicht da?“

Kunde pikiert: „Aber ich habe ihn doch seben noch gesehen.“

Antwort: „Er Sie auch.“

9. Über Anlageberatung:

Kunden fragt seinen Anlageberater: „Ist wirklich mein ganzes Geld pfutsch?“

Berater: „Nein, es gehört jetzt nur jemand anderem“.

10. Über Investmentbanker:

Warum gibt es in Wiesbaden eine Giftmülldeponie und in Frankfurt so viele Banker?

Die Wiesbadner durften als erstes wählen.

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Stephen Hester has gone to the grey side. After five years leading Royal Bank of Scotland and its shriveling investment bank and four months tending his gardens, Hester has gone on to become chief executive of UK insurance firm RSA. And guess what? He’s not the only ex-investment banker to defect.

Martin Senn, the CEO of Zurich Insurance Group, was a member of the global fixed income management committee of Credit Suisse between 1997 and 1999. Josef Ackermann, the former chief executive of Deutsche Bank and ex-head of Deutsche’s investment banking division also went to Zurich Insurance, where he was chairman until the suicide of the finance director last August. Then there’s Steven Kandarian at MetLife has a background in private equity (and insurance), or Henri de Castries at Axa, who spent a short time at Credit Suisse First Boston.

At the top of the tree, insurance can be a very lucrative career.

If all his bonuses materialize, Hester stands to make up to £5.3m ($8.7m) at RSA. Senn was paid CHF7.6m ($8.4m) at Zurich in 2012 and Kandarian earned an impressive $13.7m at MetLife. That’s not equivalent to the $20m+ earned by Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs respectively – but it’s not far off.

Needless to say, most insurance jobs pay nowhere near as much. A recent insurance salary survey by recruitment firm Reed suggests the most remunerative sub-executive insurance roles in the UK pay £86k ($140k), and that’s after 11 years of toil. While that looks good compared to the national average, it’s unlikely to do much to titillate anyone used to an investment banking benchmark.

And yet insurance firms need investment banking-type talent. The Solvency II directive which is revolutionizing their regulatory capital requirements is now due to be implemented by 2016. Even outside Europe, capital concerns are an issue: a Towers Watson survey of insurance companies globally in June 2013 found that capital management was a huge concern for insurers in North America, and that capital management was seen by insurers as an incipient source of competitive advantage.

Few people now know more about regulatory capital management than senior investment bankers. Hester’s role at RSA will be to help the company fill a £200m capital gap. With insurance firms paying well and unconstrained by punitive legislation dictating the level and structure of their compensation, expect other senior bankers to follow Hester to the grey side in years to come.

We’ve all been there before. You’re re-writing or adding to your resume and look down and realize that you’ve used the same action verb in five consecutive sentences. You then right-click the word “develop” and search for synonyms.

Wouldn’t it be easier if there was just a cheat sheet of useful, non-clichéd resume terms? Now there is. The following list was sent to us by an anonymous senior investment banker, but it can surely be helpful for other roles on Wall Street as well.

If you’ve missed out on the latest careers news and advice on eFC over the past week, take a moment to catch up on the top stories of the last seven days.

Front office hiring surging as banks interview ahead of expected bonus resignations

Investment banks are expecting an exodus of employees as soon as bonuses hit their bank account.

Why investment bankers never really retire

Even if you leave the industry with millions, it’s very difficult simply to kick-back.

Can you conquer the hardest strategy questions asked in finance interviews?

The most difficult part of any consulting interview is answering the types of questions that require you to think on your feet.

Barclays is losing senior fixed income sales staff three days before bonuses

Barclays has been slashing bonuses for its fixed income sales staff, which might explain why senior people are leaving before they’ve been paid out.

Two real-life examples of what to expect in a Goldman Sachs case study interview

Navigating your way through a group exercise in an investment banking super-day is tough, here are some examples of what to expect.

Goldman’s head of EuroGovernments bond trading thought to quit for high paying hedge fund (in deluxe premises)

From Goldman’s offices in Peterborough Court to a stately home in the commuter belt.

Eight skills that will get you hired in the Middle East financial sector today

Employers in the Gulf are hiring again, but it’s not in the glamour areas of financial services.

Weighing up whether to join SocGen’s growing fixed income business

SocGen is one of the few banks hiring for its fixed income business, but this is not necessarily a reason to join.

UBS first to increase pay, and other learnings from the Swiss bank’s results

UBS’s investment bank has seen a massive increase in revenues since 2012, and has actually bolstered its bonus pool.

When accountants get duped into becoming ‘bankers,’ or not

Banks are luring accountants in with the promise of exciting roles and higher pay. Is this really the case?

If you’re looking for a client-schmoozing corporate banking job, you should consider starting your search in Singapore.

Banks are seeking relationship managers who can win them clients from Singapore’s thriving corporate sector. Driven by banks competing to loan money to local businesses, total bank lending in Singapore rose to S$574.2 billion (US$452.4 billion) in December, a 17.4% year-on-year increase, according to the latest data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

“The hiring of relationship managers at corporate banks is becoming more active in tandem with this increase in lending,” says Lee Tze Yong, head of financial services at recruitment firm Charterhouse Partnership in Singapore. “There is a constant demand for good RMs, especially in the mid-caps or SME segments and in certain client sectors like commodities.”

Related articles:
Nine hot Asian banking jobs with skyrocketing salaries in 2014
Asia’s private banks search globally for staff as competition intensifies

Hiring of corporate-banking RMs has been strong for the last six months and demand could potentially increase even more in March once bonuses are paid, says Matthew Gardner, divisional manager at recruiters Ambition in Singapore.

The banks fuelling the hiring of RMs fall into three main camps, according to a recruiter in Singapore who asked to remain anonymous: International (Citi and Standard Chartered are the “most aggressive”); Singaporean (DBS, OCBC and UOB); and Australian (ANZ leads the pack).

Strong demand from these banks and a “narrow” pool of candidates in Singapore are driving up salaries for experienced RMs who move firms, says Gardner. “We have seen occasions where banks have offered greater-than-average increments, rises of about 20%, to capture the best talent in what is becoming an increasingly competitive area,” he adds.

That’s a hefty five-figure rise if you’re a top RM. At VP to director level, the annual-salary range for corporate-banking RMs in Singapore is S$180k – S$300k (US$142k – US$236k), according to the Robert Walters Salary Survey 2014.

Becoming an elite corporate-banking RM, however, is no easy task. You will need the following skills and experience at VP level and above, according to Angela Kuek, director of search firm The Meyer Consulting Group in Singapore: “A proven deal track record, client relationships, strong influencing and negotiation skills, and the ability to open doors, originate deals, garner buy-in internally and pull together product and credit partners.”

Credit-analysis skills are also increasingly important as RMs must ensure the credit risk of their corporate clients is not compromised, says Lee from Charterhouse. “Good relationship managers will also cross-sell other products, especially transaction banking or global market products, that generate good fee-based income,” he adds.

While a bulging client book will help you clinch a more senior RM role, banks are busy grooming their own people for own junior jobs. “They are offering internal transfers to staff who may not have relevant experience but have the attributes to be a RM,” adds Lee.

He says external candidates will be considered for junior positions if they have a “strong numerical background” – think credit analysts and Big Four auditors. But bean-crunching wallflowers are not welcome, however – you must still be able to charm the clients.

Investment banks are hiring again, partly in response to better marker conditions and also because they’re anticipating an increasing number of people will leave in the wake of smaller bonuses.

Most of these jobs are, however, fairly standard advisory and trading positions. There are also some unusual and interesting opportunities that the banks and other financial services organisations are seeking to fill. Here’s our pick of the bunch currently.

1. Global Portfolio Strategy intern, JPMorgan’s chief investment office, New York

For a role that is supposedly aimed at supporting the team, JPMorgan is asking for some serious qualifications and skills from its interns. The ideal recruit will come armed with either a Masters or PhD in engineering, maths, physics or economics and will be expected to “help with the analytics development on various aspects of managing a large portfolio of financial assets”. This requires an understanding of market risk, regulatory and accounting changes (and how they affect the portfolio) as well as, obviously, a key understanding of analytics. Extra interesting points are allocated to this role because of the fact that it’s attached to JPMorgan’s ‘London Whale’ division, which has been cutting jobs since the crisis hit.

2. Executive compensation associate, Goldman Sachs, New York

As we pointed out last week, Goldman is recruiting for the challenging position of executive compensation associate who will ultimately advise on how much the senior management team is paid. In the current climate, this both a hot potato and something that is likely to be highly political internally. What’s more, banks have been hiring more and more compensation consultants and have been struggling to fill the positions.

3. Director, risk appetite manager, EMEA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, London

This sounds grand indeed – “planning designing and implementing an overall risk appetite process”. In other words, establishing the risk parameters around which all of the EMEA front office staff in BAML will have to abide. It requires an in-depth knowledge of each risk area, including credit, market and operational, and complex regulatory ideas will have to be presented to the business in an easily digestible format. In reality, the fact that the role involves “supporting” the risk management team suggests that responsibility is diluted somewhat and the need to support, educate and train staff around risk awareness also implies facing up to some irate traders – or doing the risk team’s dirty work.

4. Portfolio management start-up, London, company unknown

An undisclosed fund of hedge fund manager (advertising on eFC) says it’s looking for experienced prop traders from investment banks to work in its Mayfair office using its seed money for a variety of strategies including long/short equity, FX and commodities. A long and solid track record is required.

5. Trade head, South Africa at Citigroup

Citigroup is looking for someone to lead its South African office, originate business and make a case for expansion in the country. It’s a rare opportunity that can often lead to a career switch, as was the case for Bradford Gibbs, who led Morgan Stanley’s South African operations before moving to private equity firm Mara Group.

6. Global business manager, fixed income, RBC Capital Markets, New York

Most investment banks are reviewing their business models currently, and inevitably it’s the fixed income currencies and commodities divisions that are receiving the most scrutiny. Credit Suisse and UBS are pulling back from certain fixed income businesses, while Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan have all curtailed their commodities divisions. RBC Capital Markets is currently looking for a global business manager to work with its FICC senior management and advise on strategy and “operational effectiveness”. They will be supporting the “strategic direction and implementation excellence of transformational end sustaining strategies”. Engaging with the business in matters like this will take some guts.

Vous aimeriez trouver cette année un nouvel emploi en banque d’investissement, ou bien dans la vente ou le trading sur les marchés de taux ou les actions ? Reste à savoir quel établissement cibler. Aussi nous aimerions attirer votre attention sur le tableau suivant, réalisé par les analystes de Morgan Stanley.

Au vu de leurs anticipations de revenus, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) semble le pire pari que vous puissiez faire, quel que soit votre secteur d’activité. Les activités de taux de Deutsche Bank ne promettent rien de très excitant non plus. En revanche, HSBC et BNP Paribas, mais aussi Société Générale (à l’exception des activités FICC où elle cherche justement à recruter) apparaissent comme des cibles de choix.

LIRE AUSSI :

Pourquoi UBS est en train de redevenir un employeur attractif

Un graphique pour identifier les meilleures banques d’investissement étrangères où travailler

If you want to know where to position yourself to ensure you’re in a growth sector by 2020, PwC has a suggestion – get into asset management. While the banking sector is likely to shrink over the next seven years, asset management firms will continue to expand on the back of a surge in assets from nearly $64 trillion now, to over $100 trillion in 2020, it says.

Banks will continue to deleverage, believes PwC, which says their influence over policy makers will diminish, creating a “vacuum into which asset management will step and place itself at the centre of efforts to reinvigorate the world economy.”

Not surprisingly, key to asset managers’ ambitions for world domination will be the ability to attract the right people. Fund managers will have to step up efforts to hire retain and train staff, while partnering with universities to ensure an adequate supply of skills and knowledge is churned out of the education system.

However, a lot of this will be outside of their current key markets. South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East (or the new PwC acronym, SAAAME) will be the key areas of growth. While currently a lot of these areas are merely distribution satellite offices, in the future they’re likely to be “regional hubs” where international firms can deploy their best and brightest and can be “used to attract and nurture talent in Africa or China for training future risk and portfolio managers, as well as regional heads of distribution, compliance and policy.”

In what could be more bad news for bankers should fund management really start to become more dominant, PwC is predicting that pay will become much more transparent – and the way it pays its staff part of the of sales process – and any incentives will be measured on nebulous concepts like customer satisfaction, quality of service and “innovative thinking”. The result will be that any institutional fund managers will have a high base salary, small bonus and any uplifts will be tied to “sustained return and reduction for excessive risk”.

It’s been one of the biggest questions on Wall Street over the past month: would new work-life initiatives aimed at improving the lives of junior bankers really work, or are they just PR banter? A new report proclaims rather loudly that it’s the latter.

Fox Business, citing several unnamed first-year investment bankers, says that almost nothing has changed, despite specific guidelines issued by most every big bank that require junior staffers to take (a portion) of their weekends back. Many have stopped working on Saturdays, as the rules dictate, but are instead coming in to the office on Sundays and are putting in more hours during the traditional work week.

Moreover, the exemptions that were built into the rules are reportedly being exercised consistently. If junior bankers are working on a live deal or get permission from their boss to work on Saturday, all bets are off. Both loopholes have been utilized quite often, says Fox.  Plus, the new rules don’t cover all employees, just associates and analysts within the investment banking divisions. Young sales and trading employees have apparently not been given any relief.

As we said previously, having rigid guidelines on work hours leaves open the possibility that the office would be short-staffed at a critical time or, the much likelier scenario, that the rules would be completely ignored. Again, it seems the latter has come true.

Hopefully other banks will end up following the lead of J.P. Morgan and just hire more people. The only real way of having bankers spend less time in the office is by having more of them to complete the work.

Resume Cheat Sheet (eFinancialCareers)

We’ve all been there before. You’re re-writing or adding to your resume and look down and realize that you’ve used the same action verb in five consecutive sentences. Wouldn’t it be easier if there was just a cheat sheet of useful resume terms? Now there is.

U.S. Bankers Take M&A Cash Crown (Bloomberg)

Senior M&A bankers in the U.S. earn well more than their European and Asian colleagues. The average annual pay for managing directors in New York is over $1 million, while London and Hong Kong M&A bankers earn, on average, $880,000 and $590,000 a year, respectively.

NYC is the Place to Be (eFinancialCareers)

“Two or three years ago, everyone was in agreement that emerging markets were where the growth was going to be and that was where banks were hiring. That’s no longer the case. Now all the noise is around the U.S.”

Rather Short Tenure (WSJ)

J.P. Morgan commodities chief Blythe Masters stepped down from the advisory panel to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission just one day after her appointment was announced. Masters evidently misjudged the workload associated with selling off the bank’s physical commodities business and wouldn’t have time for the board.

Cash Cap (Bloomberg)

Barclays is capping the cash portion of investment banker bonuses at $229,400, roughly 24% below last year’s level. Managing directors will be paid in three installments.

BOM Hiring and Promoting (Reuters)

Bank of Montreal has named former BofA executive Lyle Wilpon as its new head of U.S. mergers and acquisitions. The Canadian bank also made another half-dozen other people moves aimed at improving its capital markets unit.

Arrested (Dealbook)

Brokerage firm WJB Capital Group had to lay off all of its employees in 2012 after failing to raise capital. It turns out, at least according to an arrest warrant, the firm’s owner and two executives were spending investor money on themselves.

Buzz Around the Office

More Than a Typo (Gawker)

Bank of America sent out a credit card offer to a freelance journalist named Lisa McIntire. Actually they sent it to her mother’s house. The name on the envelope and letter read “Lisa is a slut McIntire.” She has yet to accept the offer.

Quote of the Day: “Their bosses had to go through the intense hours when they were starting out, so they want this next group of employees to go through it as well.” – a Citigroup employee on the work/life balance issue on Wall Street.

Holding a senior position in an investment bank isn’t what it used to be. You’re paid less, particularly in terms of bonuses. If you work in trading, you get to take far less risk. And if you work in M&A, there are all sorts of new rules impeding your ability to delegate work to juniors at the last minute.

In fixed income trading at least, headhunters say the outcome is a new generation of take-it-or-leave it senior staff who can’t really be bothered any more. “People are less business-driven and more interested in going to the gym and then picking up their big salaries every month regardless. There’s no real point in trying to take risk now,” said one fixed income headhunter who requested that he remain anonymous. “They’re bored,” agreed another headhunter, who formerly worked as an FX trader for a U.S. bank. “Flow has dried up and banks aren’t prop trading. Banks are a frustrating place to be if you’re a risk taker and they’re a frustrating place to be if you’re a flow trader – there’s no risk, and if you’re a reactive trader, there’s nothing much to react to in terms of flow. There’s no point in it.”

As fixed income revenues have fallen, most banks have slashed value at risk in rates and FX trading, whilst cutting the balance sheet allocated to fixed income businesses. Aggressive senior traders are now strongly incentivised to join hedge funds. And if they can’t find a hedge fund, they can collect a salary even if they don’t pull a profit. A new breed of languid traders is the result.

Not everyone buys into the cult of laziness, however. At Nomura, where fixed income trading revenues have remained robust and risk has been pared back less than elsewhere, head of recruitment Malcolm Horton said people are working as hard as ever before. “People are no less driven than they used to be,” said Horton. “These guys do it because they love it – and we actively encourage them to take time out and go to the gym. What we don’t want are the kinds of unhealthy lifestyles that have been prevalent in this industry because people didn’t take care of themselves. We want people to think sustainably and to have a more balanced lifestyle.”

One senior equity researcher, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said he’s now working far harder than he used to. “I think I’m working 30% harder than before the crisis. My hours have multiplied – I’m in the office 13-14 hours a day. I’m writing a lot more, and I’m working a lot longer in the evenings – it’s just a very competitive market and if you don’t keep up your colleagues will trample on you. You can’t do this job half-heartedly – that would be like getting half pregnant. If you want to stay in this industry, you need to outperform.”

The head of HR at one international bank in the City, also speaking on condition of anonymity as he’s not authorized to speak to the press, said it’s harder for senior people in M&A to slacken off now. Not only can they not dump work on juniors at the last minute, but the bank watches them carefully. “We monitor people a lot more closely than we used to and we know when someone is really adding to the bottom line, or not,” he said.

When senior M&A bankers don’t produce, the head of HR said their total compensation is still cut. “There’s less flexibility in terms of bonuses, but we’re still able to manage total compensation down – we’ve started differentiating hugely in terms of salary. An MD who’s a fully-fledged revenue producer will receive a far higher salary than one who isn’t.”

In fixed income trading, however, the days of crazy bonuses seem to be past. Declining revenues and reduced risk-taking have coincided with the new EU restrictions limiting bonuses to 250% of salaries. The edge has gone from the industry. “Banks don’t need these aggressive traders any more,” says the headhunter. “They just need boring people to do what customers want.”

Eighteen months ago, Simon McWhirter was gainfully employed at UBS. A managing director in the business advisory, treasury and analytics business, he’d spent nearly two decades years scaling the heights of UBS’s finance function, becoming head of US equity derivatives product control in 1999 and then occupying a series of global head positions in the finance department of the investment bank.

But in May 2012 McWhirter was ejected from his finance career. And after 19 years in the City, he decided to avail himself of his unexpected freedom. “I got an OK package,” says McWhirter, who has three children and lives in Surrey, “It was enough to survive on for a year or so, and I decided to take time out. Working in the City is all-encompassing and I’d been doing it ever since I’d left university. I’d never really had a proper break.”

Rather than travelling the world or starting a cleaning business, McWhirter decided to have a go at writing a series of children’s books, ‘The Snow Falls Gang.’ 

“The books are meant to be funny and silly,” he says, “The antithesis to working in the City really. I’ve been able to be as creative and off-the-wall as I like. The idea is that children can read them themselves, but that there’s also an element that parents can enjoy.”

Having spent his City career in middle office finance roles instead of more lucrative front office trading positions, McWhirter still needs to earn a living and had hoped to make money from his writing. “I saw plenty of traders who just upped and left after the financial crisis, but I can’t afford to retire yet,” he informs us. “It’s the same for most of the guys from finance positions – you don’t have the luxury of getting out and doing nothing at all.”

Selling books has proved challenging, however. So far, McWhirter’s completed three books in the Snow Falls series and has sent drafts to numerous agents, but hasn’t achieved the hoped-for book deal. “I expected it to be difficult, but I also expected someone to see something in the books – at least enough to come back to me and suggest that I change this or that bit to improve it, but I don’t actually think they’ve got enough time to do that.”

Compared to banking, publishing is a “completely different world,” says McWhirter. “You’re dealing with quite small companies and they’ll generally only take a surefire hit.”

In an effort to achieve that hit, McWhirter is now writing something more commercial. He’s also looking for openings in the City. The latter is proving almost as difficult as finding a first agent. “I’m too senior,” he says. “If I were ten years younger I suspect it would be a lot easier, but many of the director and AVP levels have gone offshore and banks have been making finance MDs redundant.

“Banks now want to cut costs rather than headcount and that means they’re trimming the most senior staff,” McWhirter concludes. “That’s not good for people like me. I’m happy to do any finance role that’s interesting – I’ve got a lot of experience in product control and also have dealt with the more technical side of valuations and derivatives.”

And if the new finance job doesn’t work out? “I am working on the third book in the Snow Falls Gang series of books which I will self publish,” says McWhirter. “I am also working on a new idea about a young detective that should be more obviously commercial proposition. When I have a good draft I will get back on the line to agents and publishers to see of there is any interest.

“I’ve got plenty of irons in the fire,” he concludes.

Die Schweizer Woche in der Berichtsaison ist vorüber. In den zurückliegenden Tagen haben nacheinander Julius Bär, UBS, Credit Suisse, Vontobel und die Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) ihre Geschäftsberichte für 2013 vorgelegt, wobei sich die ZKB mit einer dürren Pressemitteilung begnügte. Damit ist wieder die Zeit für unser ultimatives Ranking gekommen: Welche Schweizer Bank zahlt am besten und wo sind die Mitarbeiter ihr Geld auch Wert. So viel darf schon einmal verraten werden: In 2013 gab es einen Überraschungssieger. Konkret:

Die Angaben für den Personalaufwand pro Kopf müssen mit Bedacht gelesen werden. Denn hierin sind auch die Kosten des Arbeitgebers für Sozialabgaben und Abfindungen enthalten. Der Unterschied zwischen Personalaufwand sowie Bruttogehältern plus Boni liegt bei etwa 14 Prozent. So weist z.B. Julius Bär einen Personalaufwand pro Kopf von gut 198.000 Franken aus, während die durchschnittliche Bruttovergütung im Geschäftsbericht auf knapp 175.000 Franken beziffert wird. Bei Vontobel fällt die prozentuale Differenz ganz ähnlich aus.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Damit sind wir auch schon beim diesjährigen Sieger angelangt. Mit einem Personalaufwand pro Kopf von 338.000 Franken stellt die von der Mitarbeiterzahl her kleinste Bank im Ranking den großzügigsten Arbeitgeber dar.  Rund ein Drittel mehr ließ Vontobel für seine Angestellte springen als die zweitplatzierte UBS. Sicherlich liegt dies auch daran, dass Vontobel kein beschäftigungsintensives Retailgeschäft betreibt. Einen weiteren Grund stellen die sensationellen Vergütungen in einem der drei Geschäftsbereiche der Bank dar – aber dazu später. Am geizigsten zeigt sich indes die ZKB mit nur knapp 177.000 Franken. Die beiden Großbanken oszillieren um die Marke von 250.000 Franken.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

In Private Banking liegt das Wealth Management Americas mit knapp 280.000 Franken ganz vorn, gefolgt von Vontobel mit 262.000 Franken. Auffallend ist, dass bei der UBS die US-Kollegen rund 74.000 Franken mehr verdienen als die Mitarbeiter vom Rest der Welt.

Die Angaben zum Personalaufwand im Wealth und Asset Management der Credit Suisse sind unterdessen mit Vorsicht zu genießen. Denn im Geschäftsbereich „Private Banking & Wealth Management“ vereint das Institut einen ganzen Bauchladen von Geschäften. Hier sind neben dem eigentlichen Wealth Management auch das Schweizer Filialgeschäft sowie das Asset Management angesiedelt.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Somit weisen nur die UBS und Vontobel im Asset Management die Personalkosten gesondert auf. Trotz ihrer Kürze ist die Tabelle beeindrucken. So ließ das Institut für jeden seiner 258 Angestellten im Asset Management durchschnittlich stolze 688.000 Franken springen – womit Vontobel sämtliche Investmentbanker und Asset Manager der beiden Schweizer Großbanken geradezu deklassiert. Die UBS-Kollegen müssen sich mit gut einem Drittel davon begnügen.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Im Investmentbanking stellt jetzt wieder die UBS das Maß aller Dinge dar. Die größte Bank der Schweiz wandte für jeden Mitarbeiter in der Sparte etwa 343.000 Franken auf – 67.000 Franken mehr als die Credit Suisse.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Doch sind die Mitarbeiter auch ihr Geld wert? Nur eingeschränkt: Die Bank mit den geringsten Personalausgaben weist den höchsten Vorsteuergewinn pro Kopf aus. Bei der ZKB generierte jeder Mitarbeiter rein rechnerisch ein Ergebnis von 182.000 Franken. Bei Vontobel und Credit Suisse waren es etwa 115.000 und 110.000 Franken – bei UBS und Julius Bär sogar nur die Hälfte davon.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Bei der Profitabilität pro Kopf liegt Vontobel im Wealth Management mit knapp 193.000 Franken um immerhin 50.000 Franken vor der Credit Suisse. Doch dieser Wert täuscht, da hierin auch das gesamte Filialgeschäft enthalten ist. Ergo gebührt in dieser Kategorie ehrlicherweise der Credit Suisse die Krone.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Kaum zu glauben sind die Ergebnisse im Asset Management. Dort generierte jeder Vontobel-Angestellte einen Vorsteuergewinn von über 400.000 Franken – ein absoluter Spitzenwert und auch der Grund für die sehr gute Vergütung.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Im Investmentbanking  ist die UBS zurück. Jeder Angestellte war rechnerisch für einen Vorsteuergewinn von 198.000 Franken verantwortlich – immerhin 84.000 Franken mehr als die Kollegen von der Credit Suisse.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Als zentrale Kennziffer für die Kosteneffizienz dient die Aufwands-Ertragsquote – Neudeutsch auch Cost Income Ratio genannt. Diese besagt, wie viele Rappen eine Bank für jeden Franken Ertrag ausgeben muss. Den besten Wert erzielte mit 62,7 Prozent die ZKB. Sie musste keine 63 Rappen für jeden Franken Ertrag springen lassen. Damit sind die Angestellten der ZKB definitiv ihr Geld wert. Dagegen liegen die Werte der übrigen Banken zwischen 80 und 88 Prozent, was durchweg zu hoch ist.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Im Wealth Management gilt gemeinhin eine Aufwands-Ertragsquote von 70 Prozent als akzeptabel. Somit müssen vor allem die UBS in ihrem Amerikageschäft und Julius Bär nach der Übernahme von Geschäftsteilen von Merrill Lynch kräftig auf die Kostenbremse treten.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Hingegen liegen die Quoten im Asset Management sämtlich bei rund 70 Prozent, womit die Banken von der Hausse an den Aktienmärkten profitiert haben.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Im Investmentbanking zeigt sich abermals, dass die UBS offensichtlich effizienter als die Credit Suisse arbeitet. Obgleich die UBS die mit Abstand höchsten Gehälter in der Sparte zahlt, fällt ihre Kosteneffizienz mit 73,3 Prozent ganz ordentlich aus.

Quelle: Geschäftsberichte / eFinancialCareers.ch

Die Ergebnisse der Banken im Einzelnen:

Wo Bonusträume wahr werden: Das Wichtigste zu den UBS Ergebnissen

Bradys Kahlschlag: Credit Suisse streicht Vergütungen der Investmentbanker und Stellen der Private Banker

Asset Manager sind Vontobels Liebling: Was Mitarbeiter der Schweizer Bank verdienen

Mehr Stellen & mehr Geld: Wieso sich Julius Bärs Wachstumsstrategie für die Mitarbeiter auszahlt

Financial services firms are being urged to be more flexible with who they take on. After years of demanding a 100% fit, recruiters are now calling for banks to be more open to less direct experience or consider those who don’t entirely fit the job spec.

Unfortunately for candidates, however, this mentality has yet to shift significantly. Instead, banks are still insistent on only hiring candidates who are exactly right. It is, therefore, imperative for candidates to convince employers that they can do the job, even if their experience doesn’t directly correlate with the role or if it is a step up from their current position. How can you ensure that you’re considered?

1. Minimise any experience that isn’t absolutely relevant

Tailoring your CV for an individual role is an obvious tactic, but candidates looking to make any sort of switch or move up the career ladder should not only emphasise their relevant experience, but be brutal with excluding anything that could count against them, says Victoria McLean, managing director of careers service City CV: “Thoroughly research the role and emphasise your experience in those areas, but also minimise the less relevant information. When recruiters have a few seconds to review your CV, they’re looking for key words, but also anything that will rule a candidate out.”

2. Give examples, and then some more examples

Your CV has the potential to become laden with clichés if you target key words like ‘strategy’, leadership’ and ‘innovation’ if you want to highlight your management credentials. What employers want to see are not the key words themselves, but solid examples of this, says Jeremy I’Anson, a careers coach who works in the financial sector. “Lead with your achievements and not your job description,” he says. “90% of people send off the same CV for every job. Go through the job spec and really think what you have achieved that could be applied to that and give solid examples, citing your specific involvement.”

3. Do the ground work

A brief, informal conversation with the hiring manager or recruiter is the best way to get the point across that your skills are transferable to the job you’re applying to, or that your experience is relevant, even if it’s not immediately obvious, says John Lees a careers coach and author of Knockout CV.

“It’s very difficult to convey your experience for a job you’re not obviously suited for purely through your CV,” he says. “Call up the company and explain where the overlap of your skill-set is, and why your experience really is suited to the role. Then follow it up with a great covering letter and CV.”

4. Tear up your CV, and start from scratch

Drastic action, but something that will make you really think about both the structure of your CV and how your skills and experience can be applied to a job currently out of reach. “Most people just rehash the same CV they started at school,” says Linda Jackson, managing director or outplacement firm 10 Eighty. “Stop with the backwards chronological list of your employment history – outline a tangible list of your achievements that shows the true scope of your skill-set and provide evidence of your success.”

5. When moving up, give evidence of having down-sized

If you’re moving from a functional role into a leadership position, but have little experience of managing people, it’s best to supply evidence of managing processes and projects, which would have necessitated interaction and initiative, says Lees. “In the current climate, banks want people with experience of downsizing, restructuring or process improvement. These keywords will ensure that the recruiter takes notice.”

6. Remember, perceptions are everything

“Your CV should be an indication of how you want to be perceived, rather than necessarily who you are,” says McLean. “You experience may imply one thing, but you have an opportunity to challenge this by highlighting your relevant achievements. One example we’re seeing a lot of is project management. People are trying to switch into this area, but have only managed some projects as part of their broader job description. They need to really highlight this experience.”