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Merrill Lynch froze new hiring, including replacement hires, for the remainder of 2008, according to media reports. Retail brokers are exempt. Any other new hires must be approved by a member of Merrill's management committee, according to an internal memo from Greg Fleming, the bank's president Thomas Sanzone, the chief administrative officer. "As we focus on returning the firm to profitability, it is extremely important that we all manage expenses prudently,"... Read more

Trading up for talent, banking boutiques are feasting on Wall Street's castaways. While many laid-off bankers seek a new home within the vibrant hedge fund sector, smaller sell-side firms also are dipping into the pool of top candidates unleashed by the industry downturn. A recent Reuters story points to Thomas Weisel Partners, Wedbush Morgan Securities, and Evercore Partners as boutique firms engaging in opportunistic hiring lately. San Francisco-based investment bank Thomas Weisel... Read more

Ex-Bear Stearns executives continue to land high-level roles with hedge funds. Capital Z Asset Management said late last month it hired James M. Marrone, Jr. as chief marketing officer, a new role designed to strengthen sales and hedge fund sponsor services. He'll provide strategic direction for sales, marketing and product development while supporting Capital Z’s sponsored managers in marketing and new business initiatives. Marrone led corporate institutional sales efforts at Bear... Read more

Wall Street will accelerate layoffs this year, shrink severance packages and retention efforts, and defer more pay, according to the second-quarter report from influential compensation consultant Johnson Associates. As for bonus expectations, they'll melt further if asset write-downs exceed current projections. A "crescendo of layoffs is expected as firms acknowledge select business reductions may be permanent," the report says. In turn, Johnson sees cost-cutting leading to smaller severance packages and... Read more

Bankers and traders no longer needed on Wall Street increasingly are being given another option – move overseas. Big investment banks are moving both key executives and some of their most junior employees to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America, the New York Times reports. While such transfers in part reflect cost-cutting pressures, banks also are fortifying their businesses beyond New York and London in order to take advantage... Read more

Robin Marshall is a U.S.-based partner at 3i, a private equity firm headquartered in London, working in the firm's Growth Capital Group. As one of the founders of 3i's U.S. Growth business, he recruited a team of 20 that has invested in transactions worth over $4.5 billion to date. Marshall specializes in growth and buyout transactions and sits on the boards of Quintiles (a pharmaceutical research company) and the Association... Read more

CPAs in New York and New Jersey have a good reason to stay in the area: money. With a large number of regional and large accounting firms needing help and the preponderance of corporate accounting spots going wanting for accountants, area CPAs are reaping the benefits of demand. According to PayScale.com, the median total cash compensation for experienced CPAs in New York is about $94,000. Their colleagues in New Jersey earned... Read more

Duff Capital Advisors added two new investment teams and several senior executives, as the institutionally-focused alternative investment firm continues its expansion since launching in March of this year. Vedula Murti joined the New York office and will lead a new team investing in long/short opportunities in the utilities and merchant power sectors. He was a senior portfolio manager at Tribeca Global Management. Before that he worked at SAC Capital Management.... Read more

Societe Generale reportedly fired a four-member merger arbitrage trading team based in New York last month. The move is an apparent response to declining merger activity, according to Bloomberg News. Other players such as hedge funds Deephaven Capital Management and Tisbury Capital Management shut their U.S. merger arbitrage strategies this year as well. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg the group had invested SocGen's own capital and was breaking even since the beginning... Read more

Who says it's only the founders of hedge fund firms that have a shot at a nine-figure payday? Fortress Investment Group granted star macro hedge fund manager Adam Levinson 31 million shares of the publicly traded firm, valued at $300 million. The grant places Levinson among five other executives who together hold a controlling interest in Fortress, says The Wall Street Journal. Its purpose is to encourage the portfolio manager to... Read more

New York's attorneys have long commanded the highest salaries in the country for their profession, but a recent survey indicates the rest of the pack may be catching up. According to the American Lawyer's AM Law 100 survey, salaries for mid-level associates in New York were flat in 2008 compared with 2007, while their colleagues in Boston and Chicago saw pay increases, reaching the national median of $230,000. Still, none of... Read more

HSBC Securities hired Evan Hazell, a top energy investment banker, to be a managing director in its Calgary office, reports the Globe and Mail. Hazell leaves Citigroup, which had scaled back plans to expand its energy coverage because of the credit crisis. Before joining Citi, Hazell worked at Harrison Lovegrove, an advisory firm specializing in energy, and RBC Dominion Securities. Hazell is one of several new additions at HSBC, which has... Read more

Wall Street will accelerate layoffs this year, shrink severance packages and retention efforts, and defer more pay. As for bonus expectations, already down 25 - 35 percent year-on-year, they'll melt further if asset write-downs exceed current projections. Those are the words from Johnson Associates, a compensation consultant whose clients include many large financial institutions. The firm's second-quarter report spotlights the downside risk to its own projections for 2008 bonuses. It... Read more

Chicago investment firms are finding tough times on Wall Street present a ripe opportunity to expand. Despite large swaths of layoffs in New York, firms like Mesirow Financial are in a recruiting mode, according to the Chicago Tribune. The firm is in talks with more than 30 financial professionals as it seeks to hire traders, bankers and investment managers. It's already hired several former Bear Stearns executives, including Dominick Mondi, former... Read more

The investment firm says it's plowing savings from a previous 10 percent staff reduction, toward hiring top talent cut loose by rival firms. As securitization deals evaporate, Cadwalader law firm lays off 96 attorneys, primarily real estate finance and securitization specialists. UBS names co-heads of prime brokerage in Europe. *** After cutting its payroll by $1 billion by eliminating 4,800 jobs, Morgan Stanley said last week it intends to reinvest as much... Read more

UBS named John Holland and Martina Slowey as co-heads of European prime brokerage. Holland most recently served as global chief operating officer of the bank's cash-equities business. Slowey was global head of prime-brokerage sales, a role she will retain. The Wall Street Journal reports that both will be based in London and will serve as replacements for Robert Munro, who went on sabbatical in April. In recent years, UBS has sought to... Read more

The days of Canadian financial services firms going on hiring binges are long gone, but unlike in the U.S., major layoffs aren't looming. Officials at the Investment Industry Association of Canada expect firms to continue hiring this year, though not as robustly as they have in the past, says Executive Director Ian C.W. Russell. Many companies are also reluctant to let go employees, especially those who've received a large investment... Read more

New York and New Jersey CPAs are finding growing opportunities at specialized tax and business consulting practices. To succeed, accountants must learn to play up their marketing, communications, and negotiation skills. Branching out into consulting is often a way for accountants to open up new possibilities for their careers. Today, tax and business consulting practices continue to grow in leaps and bounds throughout the New York region. "It's a commodity type of... Read more

Negotiating compensation is a delicate dance that begins when you first apply for a job. Often, candidates are asked for information they may not wish to provide at the outset, when a job posting asks for their current or most recent compensation. "I have real reservations about disclosing comp without knowing who the other party is," says New York career counselor Roy Cohen. On the other hand, if a company... Read more

First, Morgan Stanley cut 4,800 jobs to save money. Now, it might spend the savings - estimated at more than $1 billion - on new hires. The Financial Times reports the firm is planning to hire executives with an eye toward “(bolstering) its presence in areas such as derivatives, risk management and proprietary trading." The idea is to recruit the best and brightest among those laid off by other firms... Read more