Pay squeeze for ABS pros

As hiring continues in CMBS, recruiters say ABS specialists are becoming stuck as the poor relations.

"A good first year vice president working in FIG asset backed securitisation can now expect a total of 250,000," says one headhunter. "His or her counterpart in commercial mortgage backed securitisation can now command 350,000."

Ted Tracey, at search firm Kinsey Allen Consulting says the discrepancy reflects higher margins in CMBS, and the tight candidate pool for CMBS professionals. At the same he says ABS professionals are being squeezed: "Spreads are so much tighter banks can no longer afford to pay ABS people at historic levels."

Banks like Deutsche, CSFB and JP Morgan are understood to be selective adding to their CMBS teams, while Lehman is understood to be interested in hiring juniors.

Securitization News reports that Société Générale is looking to ramp up its European CMBS presence. But Jean Francois Despoux, head of European