eFinancialCareers

Anticipating the credit crunch will cut into their revenue, fund managers including Fidelity International are said to be quietly weighing job reductions in the UK. Fidelity says it's looking "across the business" at reducing costs through means that include eliminating jobs via either layoff or attrition, Financial News reports. Any job cuts "are unlikely to affect Fidelity's front-line fund management team," the newspaper says, citing unnamed sources close to the company. The... Read more

Morgan Stanley promoted Leslie Menkes to head of onshore private wealth management for all of Asia, to spearhead a push into India and other new markets. Menkes had headed private wealth management for Southeast Asia and Australia. According to a company announcement, he will be in charge of expanding the business into new markets including India, where the bank plans an onshore launch "in the near future." He remains based in... Read more

When the smoke of crisis clears, will securities firms look much like commercial banks, forced to conduct business in Big Brother's shadow? Some of the most powerful men in finance and government call that an unavoidable result of current and planned rescue efforts, which involve harnessing central bank and even taxpayer funds to bolster the industry's wobbly assets. If investment banks become subject to stiffer capital requirements, both risk-taking and profitability... Read more

While investment banks hemorrhage jobs, hedge funds continue to hire. But crossing the aisle is no easy task. One William Street Capital Management, a new asset-backed securities hedge fund launched by ex-Lehman securitization chief David Sherr, is one of at least 10 fund startups that plan to raise more than $1 billion each this year, according to Bloomberg. To be sure, the job opportunities within these funds are dwarfed by the more... Read more

A sweetened JPMorgan Chase takeover of Bear Stearns will still wipe out many jobs, but won't vaporize as much of Bear employees' savings. The new terms of $10 per share - 0.21753 JPMorgan share in exchange for each Bear Stearns share, compared with 0.05473 in the initial deal unveiled a week ago - are aimed at mollifying Bear Stearns shareholders, according to the New York Times. But the change may also... Read more

If you work at Bear Stearns, don't rush to leave your job at what could be the bottom. That's the message headhunters are putting out to panicked Bear employees. Media coverage of JPMorgan's prospective takeover of Bear Stearns emphasizes the prospect of layoffs for between one-third and one-half of the troubled investment bank's 14,000 employees. But recruiters say the reality is a bit more nuanced. "People tend under these circumstances to... Read more

Hopes for a mid-year rebound in the sell side's hiring and compensation outlook are fading fast. Here are some coping tactics. The deal pipeline for Wall Street, which gradually unwound over the second half of 2007 after financing for leveraged buyouts suddenly shriveled, shows no sign of picking up. Banks' advisory fee revenue is down about 50 percent from a year ago, and lending revenues have collapsed 84 percent. Other segments... Read more

The job-cut announcements since last summer were only a prologue. The worst damage still lies ahead. That message - which we spotlighted in "Our Take columns" on Jan. 11 and Feb. 1 - received further documentation and elaboration this week in The Wall Street Journal. Bearing the scary headline, "Grim Reaper of Jobs Stalks the Street," Dennis Berman's "The Game" column warns that top Wall Street executives foresee the industry's work... Read more

Corporate executives, Americans especially, are often chided for obsession with short-term profit. But short-term profit is the alpha and omega of how financiers get paid – from the chief executive to the lowliest trading assistant. Now, some industry leaders are publicly acknowledging that banking's highly skewed compensation model may have helped cause the credit crunch by inducing participants to take excessive risks. More ominously, they're angling to do something about it.... Read more

Commercial real estate is set to generate sizable write-downs for Wall Street, which means trouble for bankers involved in the sector. Average compensation for real estate investment bankers dropped 10 - 15 percent in 2007 and looks to post a larger decline this year, Eric Moskowitz, head of strategic consulting for Options Group, told eFinancialCareers. Meantime, Goldman Sachs Analyst William Tanona estimates six bulge-bracket institutions will slash commercial property assets by a... Read more

As banks gird for an earnings season to be dominated by asset write-downs, a new debate touches on the industry's hiring outlook for later in 2008. "Writedowns may be masking some good news," declared the headline on an item in the newsletter FierceFinance earlier this week. The item spotlighted a Fortune Magazine article touting the novel idea that further asset write-downs will make bank stocks attractive. Although its author didn't say... Read more

Morgan Stanley rehires an executive to help overhaul risk management. Moelis & Co. plans a London office. More fixed-income departures from Merrill Lynch. Kenneth M. deRegt rejoined Morgan Stanley in a senior role overseeing risk management. Thomas Daula, the current chief risk officer, will leave once a successor is found, according to media reports. DeRegt has worked at Aetos Capital, an alternative investments firm, since 2002. He spent 20 years with... Read more

Investing in distressed companies is providing traders, portfolio managers and research analysts with some hot job prospects. For more than a year, well-known institutions on both the buy- and sell-side have been quietly raising capital for new funds that seek bargains among "distressed" issuers - those going through a bankruptcy or restructuring. While such plays exist even in the best of times - think of the auto parts sector in 2005-06,... Read more

Duff & Phelps moves into special situations. Morgan Stanley names new head in Asia. Citigroup's China chief departs for DBS Group. Advisory boutique Duff & Phelps launched a special situations M&A practice, formalizing its existing service of arranging transactions between troubled companies and distressed-investing funds run by hedge funds, private equity firms and institutions. The practice centers around "advising middle market companies, lenders, and private equity sponsors on transactions occurring in... Read more

The commercial mortgage securities business came out of a coma Wednesday, providing a long-awaited vital sign for the near-term prospects of CMBS bankers. Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns priced the first CMBS deal of 2008. To place the paper with investors, they had to discount the security's AAA-rated tranche by the widest margin ever - 235 basis points over the 10-year swap rate, according to Bloomberg News. A year ago, similar... Read more

The wall that stands between control and compliance professionals and trading roles just got higher. Middle-office and back-office professionals will find it harder than ever to get promoted to the trading floor in the way of SocGen's so-called "rogue trader," Jerome Kerviel. Citing recruiters and government officials in Paris and London, Bloomberg News reports Kerviel's unauthorized trading "ruined the chances of French bank clerks getting promoted to the trading floor." "After... Read more

Fitch Ratings will cut 150 jobs by September. RBS named more than 20 global and regional division heads for credit and financial institutions teams. Fitch Ratings anticipates eliminating 150 jobs, roughly 7 percent of its work force, by September. Its Paris-based parent, Fimalac, made the announcement while releasing results for its December quarter. Citing "restricted issuance activity and uncertainty in credit capital markets," Fimalac said Fitch revenue could fall 10 -... Read more