We’ve reported it before: bankers should expect dismal bonuses this year – with average cuts projected at about 30 percent over 2010. The bright side is that financial firms will likely compensate employees instead with packages of depressed stock – which could balloon to fortunes in the future, DealBook reports. The article quotes a corporate law and finance professor at Yale: “This year is the perfect situation where they can... Read more

Goldman Sachs may be a 2nd tier bank, but it still has 25 applicants per role Goldman Sachs isn’t what it was. We’ve pointed out a few times that J.P. Morgan appears to be a better location for traders right now. In today’s Financial News, William Wright places Goldman in a second tier of banks, including BarCap and Citi, that are merely “muddling through.” The new top tier, according to Wright,... Read more

Regulators are scrutinizing the fact that over the past five years, 136 analysts at credit-rating firms Moody’s, S&P and Fitch have left to work for the firms they once rated, according to The Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers have questioned whether analysts were too soft on financial services companies in hopes of landing higher-paying Wall Street jobs. Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) told the paper: “You are rating someone and... Read more

While sometimes a cigar really is just a cigar, in this case a credit rating downgrade is really about a global shift in banking power. Or so says Standard & Poor’s Rating Service, whose recent downgrade of six of the largest U.S. financial institutions and the upgrade of two Chinese banks indicates Asian banks are rising in influence. That's according to a Wall Street Journal article. Asian governments' greater willingness to... Read more

Stephen Hickey, head of Goldman Sachs global leveraged finance plans to retire at the end of the year. [Bloomberg] David Mayhew is stepping down from a 40-year reign as chairman of JPMorgan Cazenove in London. [Financial Times] Dick Averitt next year will leave his role as Raymond James Financial Services chairman and CEO. Dennis Zank, currently the president of Raymond James & Associates, will serve as COO. Scott Curtis was named... Read more

Options trading is like crack for brokerages. Or so says one securities attorney who believes the trend of brokerages like TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Fidelity, E*Trade and Scottrade toward trading outside of traditional stocks as against consumer interest, according to Investment News today. Indeed, options trading is up a whopping 22 percent since October. The lawyer reported a surge of calls related to options trading in the past six months. “They're... Read more

Campus Occupy Wall Street protesters are complicating finance recruiting, according to DealBook. At some schools, anger at big banks has turned the on-campus recruiting process into a crucible of controversy. “I teach financial markets, and it’s a little like teaching R.O.T.C. during the Vietnam War,” said Robert J. Shiller, a professor of economics at Yale University. “You have this sense that something’s amiss.” Op-eds in student newspapers at top schools... Read more

You knew pay would be down this year, but perhaps not this much. Bankers should expect their compensation slashed by as much as 30 percent over last year, with bonuses on track to sink by 40 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. A new report from Options Group suggests that bankers’ pay packages will hit the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Pay in equities is expected to... Read more

Michael DePietro left his job as Morgan Stanley’s head of trading for American mortgage bonds without government backing. [Bloomberg] Legendary investor Bill Miller in April will step down from Legg Mason Value Trust after 30 years, and will be succeeded by Sam Peters. [WSJ] MSSB hired seven new financial advisors in New York, New Jersey and Ohio with more than $1.17 billion in client assets under management. [On Wall... Read more

Hedge funds are not what they used to be, but investors love them anyway, according to DealBook, which writes, "This year alone, more than $70 billion in new money has gone to hedge funds, mostly from pensions and endowments. A recent study by the industry tracker Preqin found that 80 percent of investors were weighing new allocations to hedge funds, and 38 percent of investors were planning to add to... Read more

Young bankers are having second career thoughts. According to a New York Times article, the tough economy and shrinking financial sector has been particularly tough on younger Wall Streeters. The number of investment bank and brokerage firm workers between the ages 20 and 34 dropped by 25 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the same period of 2011 -- a loss of 110,000 jobs from layoffs, attrition and... Read more

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s new head of Asia headquarters in Hong Kong is shaking up the office’s culture and streamlining operations, according to Reuters. Matthew Koder was poached in June from UBS where he was the superstar head of equity capital markets. To wit: Since his arrival, Koder has pushed change and given BofA-Merrill Lynch bankers a dose of the intensity he's known for… When some bankers arrived late... Read more

Five ways to work with recruiters if you want to move to China 1) Be targeted in your approach. Robert Parkinson, founder and managing director of RMG Selection, says: “The opportunities are never ending in what has to be one of the most voracious jobs markets that's ever existed.” [China] Despite everything, some headhunting firms are taking this opportunity to expand Things may not be totally great, but that doesn’t mean... Read more

The long-troubled UBS has laid out its plans for a turnaround. The Swiss banking group’s new chief Sergio Ermotti says he aims to shrink weak business units and bolster the bank’s capital levels, according to the Financial Times. Ermotti was recently confirmed in his new position, following the surprise resignation of former chief executive Oswald Grübel who left in the wake of a $2.3 billion fraud scandal. UBS will... Read more

It’s nothing new, but noteworthy nonetheless: It stinks out there. Globally, the financial services industry has planned nearly 200,000 job cuts this year, compared to 174,000 job losses in 2009 according to the latest figures from Bloomberg. Cuts announced this week alone include Citigroup’s plans to slash 3,000 positions, BNP Paribas’s announcement of a 1,400-position trimming and BofA’s cut of its equities unit in Europe. The article quotes one London-based... Read more

BofA’s vice chair of financial institutions Mark Ellman will retire next month. [Bloomberg] Yusuf Alireza is leaving his post as a Goldman Sachs’s co-president in Asia to become CEP of the Noble Group, a commodities trader based in Hong Kong. [WSJ] Sergio Ermotti was named CEO of UBS. Axel Weber, a former chief of the German central bank, will take over as chairman next year, a year earlier than... Read more

The cuts on Wall Street continue. Citigroup is making plans to slash about 3,000 jobs, or 1 percent of its global work force, with about a third coming from the banking and securities unit, according to DealBook. The article quoted anonymous sources and stated that while plans are not final, layoffs could take place throughout 2012. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the bank plans to eliminate 900 jobs... Read more

It’s a dismal year for bonuses, but one bright spot has appeared. While Wall Street bonuses are expected to drop by 20 to 30 percent this year, Credit Suisse recently sent a memo telling employees that less of their bonuses will be deferred, putting the bank in-line with competitors, according to DealBook. Employees with total compensation of 250,000 Swiss francs – or $273,585 – would see any compensation above this level... Read more

Social media and tech are where it’s at. This is according to a recent Universum survey which asked 6,700 early-career professionals to name their dream employer from a list of 200. Google, Apple and Facebook came out on top, while financial services firms grew less popular since last year’s survey, according to a Wall Street Journal article. This is the second year Google topped the list, while financial services... Read more

“Talent is not developed overnight,” so we’re still growing our graduate hiring, says KPMG China's head of people, performance and culture KPMG is recruiting 1,700 to 2,000 graduates for 2012, compared with 1,500 for this year. But why is the firm expanding its junior ranks in the current global economic climate? [HK] Why BarCap's contractor rate cuts will produce a domino effect Until recently, the IT contractor 10 percent rate... Read more