Here's another indicator that the smart money believes the economic and financial market recovery has legs: the trend in the number of people registering to take the MBA school admissions exam abruptly leveled off after a period of explosive growth. The Graduate Management Admission Council reports Wednesday that registrations for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) edged up just 1 percent in 2009, to 301,800 from 298,734 in 2008. That's... Read more

If you're tired of being caricatured as a fat-cat "executive" just because you work for a big-name financial institution in any capacity, relief is here. BusinessWeek just acknowledged that life is tough for financial services workers, too – even admitting that "big payouts are the exception, not the rule." The magazine portrays some Wall Street employees sympathetically – a rarity in mainstream media accounts since taxpayer-funded bailouts began more than a... Read more

Demand for hedge fund professionals is bouncing back, even as compensation is down from a year ago and bonus guarantees remain the exception. That mixed picture emerges from a report issued last week by worldwide search firm Heidrick & Struggles, focusing on hedge fund search and recruiting trends. On the good news side of the ledger: - The past summer was "active" in new fund launches and hiring. H&S attributes much of the... Read more

Claire Koeneman is president of MWW Group's Financial Relations Board. Could you describe your role? The Financial Relations Board (FRB) provides a range of financial communications and services that help companies achieve their financial and business goals. Our work centers on helping companies build positive profiles in the media. I handle everything from running administration and operations to securing new business. I also handle transactional work for our clients and am in... Read more

Chinese economic expansion is sparking demand for various finance professionals for work within the U.S., says private equity consultant Song Jin. As privately owned Chinese firms move to invest in U.S. businesses and raise capital here, they'll need experienced U.S.-based investment bankers, lawyers, accountants and investor relations professionals, among others. That incipient trend, a by-product of the U.S. financial crisis and recession, marks the flip side of Western bankers' longstanding... Read more

The Technology Council of Southern California has formed a new trade group for financial executives in the technology industry. The Financial Executives Society will offer networking and continuing education to tech industry chief financial officers, controllers and business executives. Programming will include round table discussions, guest speaker events and educational workshops covering topics such as tax, finance, accounting and more. "Placing an increased emphasis on peer-to-peer connections provides an excellent opportunity for... Read more

First came asset write-downs. Then came bailouts. Now, the U.S. government is taking a large, voting equity stake in Citigroup. The chain of events pulling significant pillars of the financial industry from shareholder to government control is coming to look increasingly inexorable. But what does nationalizing a bank do to the careers and compensation outlooks of professionals who work there? Constrained upside will drive producers and senior executives to seek... Read more

As U.S.-based employees of Deutsche Bank await word on their bonus amounts, we're hearing the senior levels will bear the brunt of the damage, with the bonus pool divvied up like so: - Senior roles, management: Average bonus 85 below last year's level. - Vice presidents: Average bonus 50 percent of last year's. - Associates, analysts, and back office staff: Average bonus reduced by an amount less than 50 percent compared with last... Read more

Wall Street is enduring unprecedented public scrutiny and political pressure over its pay model – both for 2008 year-end bonuses, and how compensation will be structured in the future. This poses a formidable public relations challenge for those institutions that refuse to bow to demands for a company-wide and industry-wide bonus moratorium. If the industry really cares to defend compensation, “it has to be articulated in bumper-sticker sized phrases,” declared... Read more

The hiring outlook at campuses across the U.S. has plunged since August, according to a widely cited survey of employers. Although 146 companies polled this month by the National Association of Colleges and Employers said they plan to hire slightly more graduates (1.3 percent ) in 2009 than they hired this year, the same group had projected a 6.1 percent rise when surveyed just two months earlier, according to The Wall... Read more

While investment banks hemorrhage jobs, hedge funds continue to hire. But crossing the aisle is no easy task. One William Street Capital Management, a new asset-backed securities hedge fund launched by ex-Lehman securitization chief David Sherr, is one of at least 10 fund startups that plan to raise more than $1 billion each this year, according to Bloomberg. To be sure, the job opportunities within these funds are dwarfed by the more... Read more

If you work at Bear Stearns, don't assume the firm is safe from a takeover if its bottom line survives the collapse of two hedge funds. Bear Stearns "may be mortally wounded" - and takeover bait - even if it avoids major financial damage from its credit hedge funds that blew up recently, says MarketWatch columnist David Weidner. While the investment bank won't take a financial bath, "the real damage is how... Read more

The asset management business continues to be a hotbed of deal activity, enhancing opportunities in a number of spheres - but also creating risks. The value of acquisitions, IPOs and other sales of investment management companies more than doubled during the first six months of 2007 to a record $32.3 billion from $13.7 billion this time last year, reported Putnam Lovell NBF Securities this week. "We expect activity to remain brisk and... 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