Dresdner and the hedge fund sales bandwagon

Dresdner Kleinwort wants to double its hedge fund sales team. Yeah, right.

"They are one of the last to join the bandwagon," says the head of one London search firm. "That means they're buying into an already heavily bid market - there aren't many hedge fund sales people about and most banks are hiring. If Dresdner want to double their team, they're going to find it expensive."

How expensive exactly? According to this year's salary and bonus survey from headhunter Napier Scott, bonuses for hedge fund sales pros working with rates derivatives rose an average of 56% last year. Average total comp in the area is now 1.35m for a managing director, 730k for an executive director, and 540k for a director. People selling credit derivatives into hedge funds earn even more.

Dresdner aspires to double its hedge fund sales team from 50 to 100, according to the Financial Times. The target of its attentions will apparently be senior equity derivatives and structured credit salespeople, and junior staff in areas such as financing services.

The German bank's already dug deeply to bring in some big names - including Roberto Morelli from Citigroup as head of its equities effort, for an unspecified sum.

But will Dresdner, which is owned by insurance firm Allianz and not best known for gargantuan payouts, have the stomach to keep on shelling out? We think not.

The head of one international search firm in London says Dresdner could be helped by the goings-on at ABN. "Everyone's all over the people at ABN AMRO and Royal Bank of Scotland - there might be people in their hedge fund sales teams who'd consider Dresdner."

And if not? He says it should always be possible to move a few cheaper people across from derivatives sales and prime broking.