UK
DAVID CHARTERS: Stephen Hester deserves to be knighted
I don’t know about you, but to me there’s a nice ring to Mister Fred Goodwin. If that sounds petty, I should explain that I used to have a lot of friends at RBS. Now I only have a few. Most of the others have landed (eventually) elsewhere. The issue of stripping bankers – or [...]
Lessons for keeping your job: You do NOT want to be working for a bank’s hobby business
Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of Singaporean bank DBS coined the phrase. Thanks to a lot of ill-thought out expansion under his predecessors, DBS had ended up with a lot of, “hobby businesses,” he explained when the bank announced its results this week. At DBS, these were especially in the UK, the US and the Middle [...]
GUEST COMMENT: Why you might want to consider working in a family office
So you want to escape the grind of the corporate world and join the niche environment of the family office? Be aware, that you will have plenty of competition. Family offices are typically small entities built and developed by business entrepreneurs looking for key players that can bring their broad knowledge and expertise. For UHNW [...]
ELI LEDERMAN: It’s not sufficient simply to be a perfect robot if you want to make money in finance now
Back in the big banks’ glory years, clever professionals progressed up the ranks almost mechanically, like perfect robots programmed to achieve their appointed tasks. In that environment – now a forlorn memory – just pulling levers on established businesses was enough to post higher numbers every year, and if one wasn’t richly rewarded for it, [...]
GUEST COMMENT: The first 48 hours of redundancy are critical
Have you ever had a sporting injury? If so, you’ll know that taking some key actions in the first 48 hours plays a key part in minimizing damage and speeding your recovery. Whether you’ve strained a muscle, damaged some ligaments or incurred something more serious, it will help if you rest, apply ice or compression, [...]
How the FSA’s remuneration policy has killed hiring, and what you can do about it
In a normal year, banks might be getting ready to hire people around now. Hiring plans would have been laid and recruiters would be preparing to bring them lovingly to fruition. This year, there is none of that. “The only thing that is certain is that there is not going to be much happening,” says [...]
GUEST COMMENT: Are you aware what Michel Barnier is proposing for banking pay?
Last week Michel Barnier, the EU financial services commissioner, cause shockwaves in the financial services world with comments he made in an interview with Reuters on bankers pay. In particular, he indicated that one idea being explored is the imposition of a ratio between fixed base salary and bonuses. Another idea being mooted was a [...]
GUEST COMMENT: Much as everyone hates a banker, family and friends seem very happy to borrow money from one
Investment bank research is seldom right, but in 2005 and 2006 Citigroup issued two now notorious reports, which they have since tried to “disappear”, although you can find them online if you look hard enough. In them, author Ajay Kapur posited that the rich were about to take over the world, and gave recommendations to [...]
This is where you can still make retirement money in financial services recruitment
Times are tough for financial services recruiters, particularly financial services recruiters focused on investment banking. Some are trying to reinvent themselves as buyside recruitment experts. Others are digging into darker corners. One such corner where it still seems possible to bring in very big money is recruitment related to Solvency II legislation. For insurers, the [...]
GUEST COMMENT: There are lots of benefits to working in Luxembourg – it’s a mystery why more people don’t give it a shot.
Months before finishing my Masters degree in Investments at the University of Birmingham, I applied for jobs in all the usual places – the big investment banks and the major financial cities, London,New York and Hong Kong. During this process, I came across an advertisement for a role in Luxembourg and decided to give the [...]
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