Buy-side equity traders fear rapid adoption of technology that grades execution could distort performance incentives by overlooking material elements of the execution process. Fund managers use transaction cost analysis (TCA) systems to review their traders’ performance and determine if the fund got the best possible prices when buying or selling stocks, notes Toronto's Globe and Mail. Laws and regulations require fiduciaries such as fund managers to obtain "best execution" for the... Read more

Companies are reluctant to hire new accounting and finance professionals, but only a scant 8 percent plan third-quarter layoffs, according to the Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index. Five percent of the 1,400 chief financial officers surveyed by RHI expect to hire full-time employees during the third quarter. The majority, 85 percent, plan to stick with their current staffing levels. Despite the survey’s lukewarm results, CFOs say they continue to have a... Read more

As we enter the recession's 18th month, some staffing companies have begun urging clients to develop HR and recruiting plans to use as the economy begins clawing its way back . Because knowing what recruiters recommend can help give job-seekers an edge, we noticed a press release from Robert Half Management Resources, which included Executive Director Paul McDonald's suggestion companies analyze their business to make sure they’re recovery-ready. Here’s his... Read more

Crain's New York Business argues Wall Street job losses have been exaggerated. Citing recent data from the New York Department of Labor, the newspaper says only 19,000 financial services jobs have disappeared from the Big Apple since August 2008. Sure, three of the five largest investment banks are gone, and Citigroup and AIG are now wards of the state. And yes, there has been severe contraction, including painful job cuts, especially... Read more

Ken Cameron was senior vice president of global operations at AIG Global Partners until he became a casualty of the company's recent well-publicized troubles. He spoke with Sonia Lelii about his approach to job hunting in IT in general, and financial IT in particular. How are you finding the job market? The IT job market is tough right now, but not impossible. There definitely are fewer advertised positions, plus far more... Read more

If you're in New York, out of work and looking - or freelancing, looking for new ideas, new contacts and maybe the opportunity to get away from your desk for a while - check out LaidOffCamp NY, happening this Friday evening and Saturday. It's free, but you have to register. (Full disclosure: Dice is a sponsor.) You can find details of where and when here, and notes on what to... Read more

Maybe it's been a tough year, but there are signs Wall Street might soon get back to its old pay practices. At least the New York Times thinks so. Sunday's paper says six big banks set aside $36 billion in the first quarter for employee compensation. "If that pace continues all year, the money set aside for compensation suggests that workers at many banks will see their pay - much of... Read more

College lender Sallie Mae plans to add some 2,000 jobs across the U.S. for call center, information technology and operations support staff, by returning its overseas operations to the U.S. The publicly traded company, whose formal name is SLM Corp., says it expects to hire these employees over the next 18 months. It currently employs more than 8,000 people at 20 U.S. locations. Chief Executive Albert L. Lord said in a press... Read more

Wall Street’s been on the cutting edge of technology trends for years. I recently had a chance to speak with Phil Venables, chief information risk officer for Goldman Sachs. He has the unique role of leading the firm’s information security, technology risk and business continuity programs. Venables offered some sound advice for anyone looking to get a foothold in these areas. Take information security. It used to be a straightforward profession,... Read more

GMAC Financial Services plans to add more than 200 jobs in Charlotte, N.C. The new slots are expected to include finance, risk management, accounting and corporate administration, at salaries averaging $96,600 a year. Under terms of a state incentive deal, GMAC promised to hire at least 130 people this year and add at least 200 by the end of 2010, the Associated Press reports. It's not clear how many of those... Read more

If an avalanche blocks the road, pave a path around it. That's the idea behind a series of new illiquid-asset trading markets designed and operated by SecondMarket Inc. By building new avenues to trade various kinds of assets whose traditional venues seized up, SecondMarket actually is gaining business from the financial crisis. The four-year old New York-based firm has doubled its workforce to 100 in the last 12 months, and shows... 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

Fidelity's agency broker unit, Fidelity Capital Markets, is adding 100 New York slots for traders and support staff for a new trading floor slated for completion in this year's second quarter. The firm is hiring in equities, fixed income, sales, sales trading and prime brokerage and other areas, Fidelity Capital Markets Services President Mark Haggerty told Advanced Trading, an industry Web site. Key decision-makers over the new team are Mathew McConnell, who... Read more

For years, people in the Philadelphia area eager for high Wall Street salaries have endured brutally long commutes to New York. Now, residents of the Big Apple are taking a shine to their neighbor to the south. Laid-off Wall Street workers are increasingly looking for opportunities in the City of Brotherly Love, which seems like an undiscovered country to many New Yorkers even though it's less than 100 miles away. Philadelphia... Read more

Here is our initial read on potential direct jobs impact from the detailed financial stability plan unveiled today by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Provision: Banks must prepare new disclosures of their balance sheet exposures. Reporting requirements will be drawn up in a joint effort among the Treasury, bank supervisors, the SEC and accounting standard-setters. Our read: A potential source of fresh demand within banks' internal finance departments for accountants, financial analysts, and... Read more

"The government is stupid. Nobody with any brains is in that operation. They only make 30 grand, if that." So declared 1980s insider-trading scandal figure Dennis Levine of Drexel Burnham Lambert, as famously recounted in James B. Stewart's 1991 book, Den of Thieves. Although Levine landed in prison, his belief that modestly paid officials can't effectively regulate handsomely paid bankers is gaining currency as the world grapples with financial crisis sparked... 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

It was only a matter of time before the recruiting industry moved to seize opportunities presented by TARP and related government programs to boost the financial system and the economy. Mergis Group, a nationwide recruiting firm with a niche in finance and accounting, says it's launched a "TARP and Government Bailout Talent Delivery Team" to help companies fill slots associated with the U.S. government's Troubled Assets Relief Program and government stimulus... Read more

Does the 40-hour work week law cover Wall Street back-office staff who process trades and resolve discrepancies? And legal niceties aside, could paying workers for overtime ever be put into practice in the frenetic and hyper-competitive securities business? Those questions arise from a lawsuit filed this week against Merrill Lynch and its new corporate parent, Bank of America. Plaintiffs Andrea Levine and Ivey Moore are derivatives settlement specialists who joined Merrill... Read more

Wall Street refugees attempting to flee to the relative safety of corporate accounting and finance may find a mismatch between what they have to offer and what companies are looking for, says Steve Kerrigan, CPA, a recruiter and regional managing director in Washington, D.C., for the Mergis Group. With a background that includes work in private equity and the Big Four, Kerrigan knows what it takes to move between the capital... Read more