Banks hire for fixed income after strong Q2 results

Buoyed by strong second-quarter profits, major banks have been recruiting heavily to rebuild depleted fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) teams, recruiters say.

Firms to have increased their hiring in FICC in recent months include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Nomura and RBS. Morgan Stanley is also expected to add to its numbers in London after expanding its US FICC team.

UBS has also bolstered its fixed-income business in recent months, after its FICC division underwent a shake-up earlier in the year. The most senior new hire in 2009 was Rajeev Misra, who joined as global head of credit.
Credit sales have been a consistent source of flow business at many banks this year, but the larger firms have held off from hiring in the field in recent months, says Richard Fraser, a director at city recruitment firm RJF Global Search.

Dan Hudson, operations officer at London recruiters Execuzen, says the compensation calendar means hiring should pick up still further across the industry in the new year.

“We are at an interesting time in the hiring cycle because many banks are now putting together business plans including strategic hiring strategies for 2010. Most will wait until after bonuses are paid before moving on talent, otherwise they will effectively have to buy people out of current expected bonuses. There will be some pre-bonus moves, but the market will really start to move at the start of next year.”