Morning Coffee: 4 new U.S. firms hiring investment bankers in London. Finance jobs for slackers
Want to make your mark in M&A – or maybe restructuring, at a smallish house, possibly from the U.S., with a frontier-type attitude, preferably in the City? You’re in luck. Financial News says they’re cropping up like Cronut vendors in 2013.
Firstly, Stephens Europe is expanding. The London-based affiliate of the Arkansas-based investment bank Stephens Inc has opened an office on Cornhill from which Financial News reports that it intends to offer M&A advice on the consumer, industrials, media, technology and telecommunications sectors. The office can house 25 people, but so far it’s only accommodating 10, suggesting Stephens has positions to fill. Past preferences imply that Stephens likes to hire people from Hawkpoint (now part of Cannacord Genuity). The two firms had a partnership before Stephens turned up in London, so ex-Hawkpointers are known entities.
Other expansionary U.S. firms with their eyes on London’s investment bankers reportedly include Duff & Phelps, Houlihan Lokey and Stifel Financial. Unfortunately, their hiring plans are unlikely to be huge – our research suggests that Duff & Phelps has recruited only two registered people in London so far this year, bringing its total to 18. Houlihan Lokey has cut its London-based Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registered staff from 52 in January to 46 currently. And Stifel Financial has no registered staff and appears to be awaiting a pending FCA registration.
Separately, which finance job should you choose if you don’t want to over-strain yourself? Apparently you should be an equity trader or an investment analyst. So says Scott Dobroksi, a ‘career trends’ analyst at Glassdoor. However, before rushing into either profession, you might want to talk to an equity trader who gets up at 5am or an investment analyst whose life consists of writing research notes in the evenings and presenting them to investors during the day. Just a thought.
Meanwhile:
Big banks have no hope of improving their return on equity through fixed income trading. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley would need to generate an extra $12bn of FICC revenues between them to get their return on equity up to 15%. (DealBook)
A reminder that fierce new rules are under consultation in the UK. These include the stipulation that senior managers will be presumed guilty of misconduct (unless proven otherwise) if they fail to stop a regulatory breach and a facility for clawing back bonuses up to seven years after they were paid – even if they’ve been spent. (Financial Times)
Morgan Stanley has reshaped itself away from fixed income trading since the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs hasn’t. Is that a mistake? (New York Times)
Swiss fund manager 12 Capital is coming to London too. (Le Temps)
Fidelity just hired Peter Horrell, the former chief executive of Barclays Wealth. Horrell will join next April to run the UK business. He will also launch a new brokerage arm. (Financial Times)
BNP Paribas keeps hiring for its multi-asset arm. (Investment Week)
JPMorgan has been hiring senior bankers from Rothschild and Standard Chartered for its Middle East business. (Bloomberg)
Ultra-wealthy millennials are coming for your job. (Morgan Stanley)
A $15-an-hour employee processing debt collection calls at Wells Fargo has sent a letter to the CEO suggesting that he distribute more profits to staff to help combat inequality. (Charlotte Observer)
