eFinancialCareers

Fund management firm American Century adds a five-year lookback period to bonus formulas. Global banking group's report calls for tying pay to risks taken. Financial firms pull back IT outsourcing amid slower spending growth. *** American Century Investments will restructure its bonus system for portfolio managers by adding a five-year performance component and comparing their returns with a benchmark instead of a peer group, according to Fund Action newsletter. The move will... Read more

The Institute of International Finance is recommending Wall Street' securities firms make their pay practices more transparent and tie compensation more to market risk. Earlier this year the group was reported to be drawing up a wide-ranging recommendation to revamp, among other things, the way bonuses are awarded. Its 200-page report claims to establish "best practices" for banking industry compensation. By aligning pay with risk-adjusted performance and adopting the report's... Read more

In the wake of IndyMac's collapse, fears abound that Charlotte's big banks could be next. Plummeting stock prices at both Bank of America and Wachovia are causing concern in the banking-centric city about possible failures at these banking giants, and the certain layoffs that would follow. Last month, B of A announced it was cutting 7,500 jobs as part of its acquisition of Countrywide and absorption of more than 50,000... Read more

Newly launched hedge funds raised 40 percent more capital through June, but the number of launches fell 50 percent from 2007. London-based i-bank Collins Stewart is adding staff in New York. Compliance hiring upturn bypasses Chicago. *** Only half as many new hedge funds began trading in the first six months of 2008 as in the same period last year, with the largest launches grabbing a bigger share of new capital raised.... Read more

Globalization of operations, products and services means multinational financial services firms must redefine the nature of their diversity programs. But morphing inclusion policies present benefits and challenges to both companies and local employees. Globalization has changed the dynamic for firms looking to employ an old definition of diversity, notes Gerard M. Lupacchino, senior vice president for product development at Novations Group, a Boston-based provider of consulting and training services. In a... Read more

Goldman Sachs partner will replace GLG's emerging markets chief. More funds hire high-level distressed debt traders. A report says B of A may use lowball job offers to deny Countrywide staffers severance. Lehman will award mid-year stock bonuses. *** London-based hedge fund GLG Partners tapped Goldman Sachs Partner Driss Ben-Brahim to replace Greg Coffey, its chief emerging markets manager, who will leave in October. Coffey plans to launch his own hedge fund.... Read more

Lehman Brothers will award mid-year stock bonuses to its 26,000 employees. The Wall Street Journal describes the award as "essentially a down payment for 2008 compensation." The remainder of the year's compensation will be paid as cash and stock in January, the newspaper reports. The move was seen as an attempt to reward employees while the company faces tough times, and to take advantage of its stock price, which is now... Read more

Wall Street's job cuts to date have only scratched the surface of what would be needed to match historical benchmarks, such as revenue per employee. According to an analysis by financial sector research boutique Portales Partners, to restore profitability banks would have to slash headcounts by 20 percent if revenue reverts to 2004 levels. The research firm compared the growth in annualized revenue (adjusted for mergers and recent write-downs) and... Read more

Corporate development roles draw some dealmakers from Wall Street. Citi's Pandit overhauling bonus structure to boost cooperation among divisions. *** With strategic acquisitions a relative bright spot within today's lean mergers and acquisitions landscape, some laid-off investment bankers are landing as in-house dealmakers with their former corporate clients, observes theDeal.com. Research analysts are eyeing the corporate development arena, too. Still, even giant corporations' in-house deal teams are tiny compared with a... Read more

Citigroup reportedly is reshaping its bonus system to emphasize divisional cooperation and overall corporate performance. "We have to put a premium on partnership-like behaviour," an unnamed Citi executive told the Financial Times. The FT describes the change as a key plank in Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's strategy to revitalize the "universal banking" model by fostering synergies among investment banking, commercial banking and wealth management. Pandit reportedly asked Citi's HR chief to... Read more

We all know about information overload. It's been around for at least 40 years, but the Internet has raised it to new levels. As a job candidate, you're forced to confront it from at least two angles. As a user of information, you have the Herculean task of filtering an ocean of job postings and Web sites to find the few nuggets that might bring you closer to your goal of... Read more

Layoffs and the threat of layoffs, but opportunities in Boston, Chicago and the Middle East. The biggest names in alternative investments are feasting on top performers recruited out of investment banks. According to Bloomberg News, more than 45 traders, bankers, analysts and other executives have left the big banks this year, seeking greener pastures in hedge funds and private-equity firms such as Citadel, Tudor and . Headhunters say the movement's pace... Read more

Financially troubled Lehman Brothers reportedly faces a new challenge – the threat of mass defections by staff who fear a major new round of layoffs. Unnamed Lehman executives view a sale of the bank as the main alternative to cutting loose as many as 5,000 of its 26,000 employees, according to CNBC. "Already fear is spreading through the senior ranks of the investment bank: Worried bankers and traders have recently been... Read more

Fishing in Wall Street's troubled waters, the biggest names in the alternative investments business are feasting on top performers recruited out of investment banks. "More than 45 traders, bankers, analysts and other executives have left the major investment banks this year to join hedge funds and private-equity firms," Bloomberg News reported. Bloomberg said it toted up the figure – which excludes people who left Wall Street to start their own companies... Read more

More professionals left Wachovia Securities to join ex-colleagues' fund management start-up. Tudor hired Bear Stearns' distressed-debt team to run a new credit investment strategy. NYSE Euronext hired a U.S. futures chief from Merrill Lynch, and Lehman reshuffled its senior executive ranks. *** Riverfront Investment Group, launched in April by four asset management executives who split off from Wachovia Securities, said 10 more former colleagues have joined it, five as partners. They include... Read more