While investment bankers and traders are reportedly scooping up hefty bonuses, a lesser known subsector of the financial services community is not doing too badly either. Actuaries are flavour of the moment with investment banks. Recruiters in the US and Northern Europe say corporate pension deficits are driving demand for actuaries who can help match pension fund assets to ever mounting pension liabilities. As the problem becomes more acute, so demand... Read more

Last week’s big news was the revelation that Andrew Pisker, London-based chief of executive of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW), was making a swift exit. Pisker’s retreat follows a shake up in which DrKW is to be folded into the corporate banking division of Dresdner Bank. Stefan Jentzsch, who left German bank HVB earlier this month, will head the new division based in Frankfurt. Pisker’s destination is unknown. In other senior moves,... Read more

The ICMA Centre, a financial services-focused business school attached to the UK’s University of Reading, received a £5m (€7.4m) grant to finance the expansion of its teaching facilities this month. The endowment was a gift from the centre’s benefactor and namesake, the International Capital Markets Association. But Reading is not the only university to run specialist finance courses with outside help. In 2002, Cass Business School, part of the City University,... Read more

There was no shortage of hiring announcements last week, where the weightiest fell in the world of investment banking. Lazard hired Riccardo Pavoncelli, a veteran Morgan Stanley banker, as head of European cross-border transactions. Pavoncelli, who was head of banking in Italy and a co-head of its European media and telecom advisory group, will be based in London. John Crompton, deputy UK head of Morgan Stanley, joined the British Treasury on... Read more