Corporate financiers in vogue with private banks

JPMorgan Private Bank is to hire a number of investment banking pros to offer corporate finance advice to its private clients. Are other private banks set to lure corporate financiers too?

Apparently, yes: "There is interest from the private banks in hiring corporate financiers," says Harry Pilkington, consultant at private banking headhunting firm Armstrong International.

Pilkingon says JPMorgan isn't the only bank in hot pursuit of corporate finance talent, with other banks operating similar advisory arms, while UBS and Credit Suisse have roles for corporate financiers in joint ventures between their private and investment banking arms.

Rival headhunter, Mark Somers, tells us his own research indicates that a third of private banking positions are typically filled by people with a former corporate finance background.

However, headhunters say private banks' interest in corporate financiers is rarely reciprocated thanks to a considerable differential in pay. Private banking headhunter Christian Sulger Buel (of the eponymous Sulger Buel & Co), says: "Corporate financiers are paid several times more - two to three times more - than a successful private banker."