Good news for Lehman juniors
Senior Lehman bankers may be harder to poach than their counterparts at rival banks, but recruiters say a low retirement age and large nest egg mean they're more likely to quit voluntarily.
"The fact that Lehman's share price has done so well over the past decade is enabling senior people there to retire," says one London-based headhunter. "This makes it easier for junior managing directors to move up through the ranks," she adds.
Although there doesn't appear to have been an exodus of gold-plated Lehman bankers to date, a recent alteration to the bank's retirement policy means this could change following the payment of 2006 bonuses.
Earlier this year, a spokesman for Lehman tells us the bank reduced the age at which its bankers can retire with instant access to restricted stock to just 45, down from 55 previously. In order to be eligible for the new scheme, employees need to have worked for the bank for at least ten years.
The move is significant because it releases senior staff from the need to continue working there until deferred stock becomes accessible to them. This can be as long as five years after the time stock was paid.
The potential for a raft of senior bankers to retire early next year should be further good news for mid-ranking staff at Lehman, who may be promoted as a result.
By comparison, Andrew Lynch, a corporate finance specialist at financial servcies search firm Veni Group, says people at some other banks are being forced to wait longer than previously before moving up a notch. "One European bank has increasingly begun promoting from vice president to director level in four years instead of three," he says.
