Banks, boutiques hiring equity researchers

It's not all bad news for equity researchers. Investment banks and boutique firms are still pursuing their talents.

Bridgewell Securities, the UK investment bank which is set to float on the London Stock Exchange, wants to invest some of the 15m it earns in expanding its research coverage, the Financial Times reported last week.

Alan Watson, head of research at Bridgewell, told eFinancialCareers it was too early to clarify exactly how many researchers would be hired. "We may be recruiting people," he admitted. "We're giving some thought as to how many."

Jonathan Evans, managing director of search firm Sammons Associates, says Bridgewell isn't the only boutique mulling the addition of equity researchers. "A lot of the smaller boutiques are under-resourced at the moment," he says. "There is particular interest in adding people who can cover hot areas like property, oil and energy & power."

At the same time, he says the big banks have now finished rationalising their equity research departments. And, guess what? - They're interested in hiring again.

A quick perusal of the jobs on eFinancialCareers suggests this is true. Among others, Morgan Stanley is looking to add equity research associates to its capital goods and metals and mining teams. And Macquarie Bank is looking for a junior equity research analyst to help roll out coverage of infrastructure companies.