Photo credit: FroZman

It seems unlikely, and yet – there are some signs that structured credit jobs are making a comeback in Ireland.

Needless to say, most investors and banks pulled back from the structured credit after 2008. In the bad old days Anglo had a structured credit business packaging structured credit products, and a ‘credit investments division,’ managing a range of investments in asset backed securities. Not any more.

The death of the structured credit market left may of its practitioners washed up. However, there are some signs that recruitment is re-emerging.

Paul Smyth of recruitment firm FK International says structured credit recruitment has picked up in Ireland over the last six months. He claims there are two main types of hirers: large and often international institutions managing existing credit portfolios, and smaller, credit-focused asset managers.

The first category includes large banks with an existing credit portfolio to manage and run-off. Tony Hanlon, the former head of structured credit at Anglo Irish, for example, is now at Irish Banking Resolution Corporation, where he manages the banks distressed property loan book (which may include in mortgaged backed securities investments) in an effort to achieve optimal recovery.

The second category includes the likes of Dublin-based Harbourmaster Capital, which launched an asset backed securities fund back in 2010 and may seek to expand after being acquired by Blackstone in October. Equally, Stone Tower Capital, a $20bn alternative credit asset manager set up in Dublin last October, and may also be expected to hire in the near future.

Paul O’Reilly from recruitment firm Robert Walters points out that you’re unlikely to get a job related structured credit without prior experience. The jobs “tend to be quite specialised, and that there is relatively small pool of candidates with the required experience,” he suggests.