Weekly IB Recruiting Brief 1/2/22

Happy New Year!

After a year of unprecedented volume in M&A and ECM, the hiring market remains as active as ever. From what we have been hearing, the deal pipeline for the fourth quarter and beyond is very strong.

Early 2022 is showing that most banks remain open to recruiting experienced M&A and equity capital markets bankers at all levels. As per efinancial careers, the WSJ, FT and other industry sources, below is what we know about banks' differing strategies as the year ends. 

Bank of America: Still spending on capital markets.

Tom Montag is retiring after 13 years running the sales and trading division and investment banking business. CEO Brian Moynihan said that the capital markets franchise requires "hundreds of millions of dollars a year" in investment, but that BofA plans to keep making this.   

Barclays: Change but more of the same

Barclays has a new CEO in the form of CS Venkatakrishnan and new leadership of the investment bank in the form of Paul Compton. Barclays has a history of cutting headcount in early January. With Compton in charge, the big question is whether this will happen again - and whether bonuses will fall despite strong profits in t2021. 

BNP Paribas: Assimilation 

BNP is heavily focused on growing costs more slowly than revenues, but within these constraints is busy focusing on ESG. - It's created a new Low Carbon Transition Group formed of over 250 professionals from advisory, capital markets and industry backgrounds.

Citi: multi-year control hiring, big hiring in APAC wealth, adding bankers

Citi's big focus remains risk and controls. CEO Jane Fraser said the bank has a "multi-year plan" here and is pleased with the talent it's added so far. Recruitment appears to be continuing. 

However, Citi is also heavily focused on cost discipline. Mason said the bank generated $300-$400m of efficiencies each quarter in 2021, implying that cuts are quietly happening in the background. 

Credit Suisse: Growth in Asia, selective investment, quiet cuts, big exits

However, Credit Suisse has also been hiring in its investment bank - partly to offset what appears to be a rush of exits. Last week, head of the investment bank Christian Meissner said Credit Suisse has recruited around 1,200 new employees into the investment bank in 2021. However, net headcount is up by just 300; 800 people have left. 

Deutsche Bank: Hiring investment bankers globally

Deutsche Bank's big focus now seems to be adding investment bankers. 

Drew Goldman, Deutsche's New York-based global head of investment banking coverage and advisory said the bank is only hiring nice people who aren't "disrespectful to junior staff," but these kinds of bankers appear to be hard to come by. In June, Johnson said a lot of is time was being spent on hiring: "Many people have competing offers or get bid back.”

Goldman Sachs: Hiring in China, quietly adding juniors 

Goldman Sachs quietly increased its headcount increased by 2,200 people between the end of June and the end of September 2021. This was the second-highest third quarter increase in the past five years. As we observed at the time, many of the new hires will have been campus recruits. 

JPMorgan: Technology hiring and front office hiring

JPMorgan has also been growing headcount in its investment bank this year. In April 2021, Financial News reported that JPMorgan was hiring 190 junior bankers. Headcount in the corporate and investment bank rose by 3,600 people between March and September, an increase the bank said was down to a combination of "technology and front office hires." 

HSBC: Still cutting costs, investing in China, Hong Kong equities looking good

HSBC is still has costs to cut. When it reported its third quarter results, it said had extracted just $2.6bn of the $4.5bn of costs it wants to remove by 2022 and that costs in the global banking and markets division were down just 1%. 

Morgan Stanley: Tight-lipped on hiring, talking up financial sponsors 

Morgan Stanley doesn't give much away when it comes to hiring plans.

Nomura: A bad year, but hiring junior bankers 

2021 has not been a good year for Nomura. First it lost $2.9bn on Archegos Capital Management. Then it suffered a $345m writedown by virtue of a US transaction years ago. 

Nonetheless, hiring is happening too. Financial News reported in October that Nomura wanted to hire 50 analysts and associates for its investment bank before the year end. 

Open Roles 1/2/22 - Please PM me or shoot me an email at [email protected] and let me know which role you might be interested in. No H1Bs, TNs or recent grads. No career switchers at this time. #banking #investmentbanking #mergersandacquisitions

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