If you think your MBA is going to prepare you for a career in M&A or investment banking, think again. A new survey found that nearly nine out of 10 (86 percent) MBA graduates felt unprepared when completing a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analysis. Granted, the survey, which was conducted by Training The Street (TTS), a leading corporate training provider for a majority of Wall Street firms and top tier... Read more

Bank of America today announced that it reached its goal of doubling the number of Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisors (FSAs) to more than 1,000 nationwide by the end of 2011. With the addition of nearly 300 new hires across Texas and Florida, more than 1,200 FSAs are now working in banking centers throughout the United States or in the Merrill Edge Advisory Center. This comes at a time when... Read more

With Wall Street banks trimming their ranks, there is one sector financial markets firms still look toward to help them maintain their productivity during headcount reductions, and that's IT. Now that financial services companies are handing out pink slips by the hundreds, tech has become more crucial than ever to investment banks, retail banks, fund managers, brokers and insurance firms, all of whom spend billions on technology and their tech... Read more

They knew it was coming, but it still sent chills through the halls of Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, NC as word spread that employees were being laid off. BofA had announced earlier this year that it would reduce headcount by 30,000 jobs company wide by the end of 2012 in order to cut costs. Approximately 15,000 employees work in Charlotte, and according to the Charlotte Business Journal, some... Read more

Despite reports to the contrary, some of the MF Global employees who got the ax last Friday are finding jobs. According to a variety of news reports, the mass firing at the failed New York brokerage ranged from 1,066 to almost 1,600. This comes at a time when most Wall Street firms, which have been cutting headcount since the beginning of the year, may be in for another round of... Read more

SIFMA, The Securities Industry Financial Markets Association, held its annual conference in New York this week and heard industry leaders and regulators warn that many of the challenges discussed at last year’s meeting are still with us, and that we can expect at least one more round of severe headcount reductions. As for why such issues as poor risk management and over-leveraging are leading to situations like MF Global and the... Read more

Former President of Bank of America’s Global Wealth Management, Sallie Krawcheck, told SIFMA’s annual conference in New York this week that the past 25 years haven’t seen much in the way of progress for women executives. Krawcheck said that despite all the programs and diversity initiatives underway since the late 1980s, women on Wall Street seem unable to move beyond the 15 percent of senior management level or 15 percent... Read more

If you have at least three years of experience working with clients, as well as experience in financial planning, Bank of America is looking for you. As we reported yesterday, BofA is building up the unit, known as Merrill Edge, which services its mass affluent clients, those with between $50,000 and $250,000 in investable assets, by hiring over a thousand Financial Solutions Advisors, or FSAs. David Giancola is BofA's Merrill Edge Southeast... Read more

Bank of America today announced the hiring of more than 25 Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisors (FSAs) across the Southeast region, including Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville. It's all part of BofA's expansion of the division that offers financial advice to mass affluent clients, or those with between $50,000 and $250,000 in investable assets. FSAs manage investment and banking solutions. The most recent hires are part of Bank of America's plan to nearly... Read more

J.P. Morgan is still the bank to work for, even though salaries per employee are down 3 percent this year. The bank released its third quarter earnings today of $1.02 per share, beating analysts' estimates by 11 cents. In its announcement, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its third-quarter profit fell 4 percent to $4.26 billion, or $1.02 a share, from $4.42 billion, or $1.01 a share, in the year-ago period.... Read more

Expectations remain relatively high on Wall Street, especially among hedge fund employees, that this year's bonus will either outperform or match what they received last year. A new survey of financial markets professionals by eFinancialCareers has found that more than six in 10 (62 percent) expect their bonus this year will be higher or the same in comparison to the bonus they earned in 2010. The current level of expectation, while... Read more

If you ever wonder why companies take so long in deciding which candidate to hire for a particular position, consider this: the cost of selecting the wrong person can run into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, not to mention the potential negative impact to a company’s reputation, morale and productivity. Then there are those stories that grab media attention such as the alleged rogue trader who... Read more

Just as the job outlook for M&A appears to be worsening as banks begin letting go of their junior associate-level investment bankers, Wells Fargo Securities says it is expanding its investment banking platform. The capital markets and investment banking part of Wells Fargo & Company announced today that it has hired two new managing directors to head up industry areas within its growing Mergers and Acquisitions group. Wells Fargo Securities named... Read more

There have been plenty of warnings about keeping your social media profile clean, honest and up to date, including several on this site, and now there's a real good reason why. A new survey finds nearly three out of every four companies (72 percent) use social media as part of their recruiting process. The survey was conducted by SelectMinds, a company that develops social recruiting and community management solutions for corporations. According... Read more

A recent survey conducted by eFinancialCareers found that one in four financial professionals felt they were sent to interviews by recruiters for jobs that didn't match their skill set. And today, a different survey by an independent company came to pretty much the same conclusion. The latest study conducted for Robert Half showed that one-third (36%) of 1,400 chief financial officers surveyed felt the top factor leading to a failed... Read more

All you investment professionals gearing up for your CFA or CIFM designations can now keep up to date with the latest trends and research in finance and investing no matter where you are. The CFA Institute has partnered with app development company WillowTree Apps to launch the CFA Institute Mobile App available through iTunes and the Android marketplace. The global, not-for-profit association of investment professionals that awards the CFA and CIPM... Read more

How's this for a PR nightmare? Capital One, which recently cut 100s of jobs, now claims it plans to actually create hundreds of new jobs with its bid to acquire ING Direct USA for $9 billion. Opponents of the acquisition, say it's not true and that if you look at the bank's history, jobs are usually eliminated when it purchased banks in the past. So who are you going to believe?... Read more

On a day the market fell over 500 points at one point and giant banks like BofA and HSBC continue to eliminate thousands of jobs, one global firm announced its intention to create nearly 70,000 new positions over the next three and half years. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, which reported record revenues of $28.8 billion for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2011 said today it was growing its global... Read more

Not all the news coming out of Bank of America these days is about layoffs. In fact, as part of its overall commitment to beef up the Merrill Lynch Edge Financial Solutions Advisors (FSA) Group, it has been on something of a hiring spree, adding a total of 230 advisors in New Jersey and central New England. FSAs provide advice and guidance to customers with $50,000 to $250,000 in investable... Read more