Careers Guide 2008

BANKING: OVERVIEW
© JEREMY WOODHOUSE
Although it is too early to predict the exact toll of
the recent turmoil, data provider Experian had
estimated at the end of the summer that the credit
crisis would have cost Britain around 40,000 fi nancial
sector jobs by 2010 – a pool four times larger than
Citi’s London headcount. In London alone, the fi rm
forecasted that roughly 18,000 fi nancial jobs would
have been cut in the next two years, which is roughly
in line with a forecast by Britain’s Centre for
Economics and Business Research (CEBR) of 19,200
cuts during 2008 and 2009.
Financial hubs in Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome,
Milan, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf may fare better. Th ere
are also one or two larger players, notably Société
Générale that are bucking the trend and actively seeking
to bolster their operations. Few would have predicted that
the French bank, which was rocked last year by a €4.9bn
rogue trading scandal, would have launched a worldwide
recruitment drive for 20,000 more staﬀ . While the bulk is
earmarked for retail banking, specialised fi nancial services
and investment banking are on the list.
EQUITY DERIVATIVES
Th ere has also been activity on the equity derivative front
thanks to the growing demand for over the counter
products. Recently, Yannick Mallegol joined Barclay
Capital as head of equity derivatives fl ow sales from
Société Générale where he held a similar position.
Meanwhile Commerzbank, which is expected to
dismantle Dresdner Kleinwort’s structured credit business,
plans to keep the equity derivatives area relatively intact.
Another bright spot is small to medium sized
corporate fi nance deals, according to Mark O’Reilly,
associate partner, Astbury Marsden, the global
recruitment fi rm. “Th e lack of liquidity has hit the high
value corporate fi nance transactions but we are seeing
smaller value deals being done by the second tier fi rms.”
CFA graduates also have the option of honing their
investment banking skills in another part of the fi nancial
“The lack of liquidity has hit the
services business. CB Richard Ellis, a global real estate
advisor is hiring people who are well-versed in debt
origination and structured fi nance. Robert Murphy, a high value corporate fi nance
senior director at CBRE says, “We provide advisory
services that an investment bank does but our main
focus is on real estate. We are looking for individuals
transactions but we are seeing
with stock broking skills who can also engage investors
and develop the business.”
smaller value deals being done by
Looking ahead, the coordinated eﬀ orts by
governments around the world may have rallied markets,
but no one expects to see stock prices to truly turn the second tier fi rms”
around until next year or even 2010. Th is means that
jobs may be harder to fi nd, but there are defi nitely
Mark O’Reilly, Astbury Marsden
opportunities lurking in investment banking.
Cg
WWW.CFAUK.ORG CAREERS GUIDE 2009 59
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