Market nervousness creates hiring opportunities
Numis Securities is ramping up its equities sales and trading business. Its chief executive says staff jitters at other banks make this a good time to hire.
Numis has hired eight people to its equities sales and trading business, the Financial Times reports today.
Chief executive Oliver Hemsley is reported as saying that current 'nervousness' in the equity markets makes this a good time to recruit. "Numis has always been prepared to invest in a downturn - you can get really good people then," he says.
The London-based investment bank might be taking a leaf from the likes of Lehman Brothers and UBS, which were among the only banks to continue adding staff in the downturn of 2001-2003.
Whether the opportunity to pick up top bankers at bargain basement prices makes much difference is open to question, however: UBS ranked 8th for US M&A in 2002 and 7th in 2005. Lehman ranked 11th for European M&A in 2002 and 10th in the first quarter of this year.
