Bank of America's CEO said the bank continues to cut headcount but is hiring investment bankers and financial advisers in Europe and Asia. [LA Business] Morgan Stanley is lowering pay for some senior executives in an effort to reduce compensation levels. [Dealbook] London-based alternative asset manager Duet Asset Management is preparing to launch a commodities hedge fund. [Benzinga] Private equity firms have doubled their fundraising over the past year, pointing to a recovery... Read more

UBS is getting back into commodities! After deciding to close a lot of its commodities business in 2008, it’s getting back in! It’s also hiring lots of people. According to Bloomberg it wants to hire another 40 people over the next 18-24 months. According to the Financial Times it will be prioritising agricultural commodities. All of this is terribly exciting, but given UBS’s vacillation about commodities in the past, it may... Read more

Hedge fund bonuses could rise 5 percent this year, according to a new report. [HedgeFund.net] Wells Fargo has launched a hedge fund and private equity administration service, and is adding staff in accounting and portfolio servicing. [Marketwatch] Standard Chartered could increase headcount in derivatives and sales by 10 percent next year to manage opportunities in commodities. [Bloomberg] MBA talent is once again in demand, with placement rates bouncing back from recession lows. But... Read more

Equities, credit and FX trading aren’t what they were. According to one headhunter, this realization is driving a sudden enthusiasm for working in commodities.\ “Fixed income and equity traders are desperately trying to get into commodities,” he says. “But it’s almost an impossible to move to make in this market.” Commodities traders haven’t exactly been having a wonderful year either. Just ask Blythe Masters at JPMorgan, who has been "taking the heat"... Read more

Bank of America hired 10 staffers to boost its global corporate team in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. They include Rufus Beldam, formerly of Citigroup, who will head BofA’s EMEA energy and power division. [Reuters] Bank of America hired Zhang Xiuping , from Deutsche Bank AG, as co-head of mergers and acquisitions for Asia. [Bloomberg] RBC Capital Markets hired Glenn Anson as a managing director and global co-head of central bank... Read more

Morgan Stanley's acquisition of Smith Barney's wealth management business was supposed to soften the blow of weak trading quarters, but the firm is suffering as much as rival Goldman Sachs, with both institutional and retail trading less of a boon than hoped. [ABC News] The European Commission appears cool to the idea of introducing an EU-wide financial transaction tax on traded assets. [Telegraph] Brokerages are hiring bankers and boosting capital during... Read more

UBS is launching a group devoted to capital raising and deal advice for the renewable energy and clean technology sectors. An internal memo says the group will be led by Jim Schaefer as global head and David Dolezal as Americas head. [Deal Journal] Wealth management recruitment is taking off despite many participants maintaining a freeze on hiring in investment banking and asset management. Many of the business's big names are scrambling... Read more

With new regulations reshaping the market for Wall Street's riskier products, jobs in derivatives would appear to be in short supply. Credit derivatives are a thing of the past, and banks such as Goldman Sachs have shifted to derivatives clearing and market-making. Yet, despite tighter rules, banks in Europe are hiring. And, areas such as equity derivatives, while becoming commoditized, have become launching pads for new business in other parts... Read more

Middle-market investment bank Jefferies is hoping it can leverage its rapid ascent in fixed income and commodities to gain a foothold in the futures business. The firm announced the launch of a futures division and named a 25-year veteran to lead it. Regarded as a leading player in high-yield debt, Jefferies has stepped up its fixed income and commodities businesses in recent years. Now, the firm has set its sights on... Read more

The market is still in its infancy, but demand for commodity traders is set to grow. Some foreign investment banks and commodity trading companies have recently established a local commodities presence in China. Ambrian Capital, a London-based corporate finance, stockbroking and commodity trading firm, has opened a metals trading office in Shanghai, according to Bloomberg. Trafigura, an independent commodity trading company is recruiting junior level staff as part of its... Read more

With all the talk of layoffs and pay cuts, who'd think investment banking has actually been growing these last few years? Apparently, that's the case. Financial News says the industry today is "more concentrated and more efficient." It has higher margins - 38.8 percent pre-tax, on average, compared with 37.1 percent in 2007 - and a higher return on margins than it had before the credit crisis hit. Revenues in the... Read more

JPMorgan's getting out of proprietary trading to comply with new curbs on investments banks. Those on the commodities desk have reportedly been told they'll be out of work - less than 20 traders are affected there, and only one of those is in New York, the rest are in London. The bank is also reportedly considering close the fixed-income and equities desk, where another 50 to 75 employees work. [Bloomberg] Finra... Read more

Is an uptick in derivatives job creation looming? It could be, now that a U.S. regulatory overhaul that largely spares banks' derivatives activities is finally about to become law. Recent steps by both Daiwa Capital Markets and JPMorgan underline the point. The case for a derivatives revival is laid out by Simon Boughey in a recent Financial News column. He concludes: Daiwa Capital Markets clearly believes there is plenty of life in... Read more

Traders of physical commodities including crude oil, liquefied natural gas, iron ore and coal are the focus of a renewed hiring boom that's driving pay packages back to the peaks reached in early 2008. Good performers are getting packages of $1 million on average, while stars are pulling in guarantees of $5 million and up. The recruiting drive is in part a response to regulatory developments. Banks and hedge funds see... Read more

Deutsche Bank's co-head of investment banking says a "war for talent" is getting in the way of his plans to gain market share. Speaking in New York, Anshu Jain said, “The ability to keep our talent and then to go out and bring people on board to even up that market share is proving to be a greater challenge for all of us.” Competitors, he said, "are making a real... Read more

Hewitt hires Shaughnessy from Rogerscasey as senior investment consultant, Parikh and Friedman from Mercer as senior pension risk consultants, three others for roles in manager research. All the positions are new [Pensions & Investments] Casimir Capital hires Morgan Stanley's Atwell to launch new research division focused on commodities and mining companies [Casimir Capital, via PRN] BofA Merrill Lynch promotes Arth to president of Bank of America Business Capital from eastern division executive... Read more

Mike Buttner, Tim Mullins Join Wells Fargo Mortgage Bond Team [Bloomberg] Bloomberg says the bank's "building a team to package and trade mortgage-backed securities and curb reliance on Wall Street firms as a market recovery takes hold. AIS Hedge Fund Admin. Appoints Dan J. Schulman as General Counsel [Hedgeco.Net] Former Goldman Energy Trader Saiz Planning Commodity Hedge Fund [Bloomberg] BNP Paribas Adds to Prime Brokerage Business in North Ameri... Read more

Goldman Sachs's record fixed-income trading revenue last quarter may open even more career opportunities for traders at other top global banks than for Goldman's own traders, in view of new market-share headwinds the SEC's fraud lawsuit could blow in the face of the long-time pacesetter. While Goldman's fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) business soared, first-quarter investment banking revenue declined from last year's fourth quarter as merger advisory business remained slow. Both... Read more

Fixed-income trading remained the key driver of big banks' profits and hiring last quarter. Goldman Sachs earnings due early Tuesday will fill in a key data point: Are other bulge-bracket institutions regaining market share they'd lost to Goldman in the past two years? Unlike JPMorgan and Bank of America, Goldman is expected to report first-quarter revenue from fixed-income trading declined from the same period of 2009. For example, Barclays Capital analyst... Read more

JPMorgan's expansion in natural resources banking is spurring hires of energy and mining bankers in Canada, with more to come. David Harrison, newly hired from UBS where he headed energy investment banking, will lead the buildout of an energy banking franchise for JPMorgan in Calgary. He reports to Adam Howard, head of Canadian investment banking, and Vean Gregg, head of North American oil and gas investment banking. Several more hires in... Read more