Analyse this...

With Irish assets under management expanding, senior equity analysts are a hot topic - but only if they've worked somewhere else.

Fideuram Asset Management, a subsidiary of Italian banking group Sanpaolo IMI, is bulking up its Irish business and hiring equity analysts as part of its recruitment drive.

It's not the only one: Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), the beleaguered arm of the large Irish lender, is advertising in the UK for equity researchers and other positions back home.

BIAM, which lost four senior executives to Australian group Perpetual in 2004, is "fairly continuous in its hiring process", says spokeswoman Bernadette Godley.

Expansion by large firms like Fideuram, which set up its Dublin base four years ago, is draining the local pool of analysis talent, says Helene Bergenstjerna, head of the banking division at Hudson in Dublin.

"It's an extremely competitive market," says Bergenstjerna, whose agency

is currently looking for an energy equity analyst with between five and six

years' experience for a global investment firm.

Growth in assets under management is boosting Irish managers' appetite for analyst hires, says Bergenstjerna. The bad news is local candidates are unlikely to get a look-in. Most Irish fund managers would apparently balk at hiring a purely local candidate for the roles, which pay at least €100k a year.

"We tend to get Irish people back home for senior roles, mostly from London," says Bergenstjerna. "At this senior level, track record and proven experience in the sector are paramount."