US bankers want a piece of the action

6 June 2007

2 minute read

Junior Wall Street bankers are more eager to try their luck in London.

"The number of North American applicants for London-based investment banking roles has increased significantly," says Adam Cairns, a director at recruitment firm Fennemore Banks. "Two years ago we rarely saw any CVs from the USA and Canada. This year we've already placed a good number of North American applicants."

Cairns says US bankers' interest in the City is down to pay scales which are now on a par with Wall Street (the recent salary barometer from US-based compensation consultancy Johnson Associates actually put them 10% higher), plus the perception that Europe is now the land of M&A opportunity. This is despite the fact that growth in European M&A lagged the US in the first quarter, according to Thomson Financial.

The migration should prove good news for UK banks, which are still struggling to find enough junior corporate finance bankers to fill their vacancies. This month's report from Ernst & Young's Item Club put the City's ability to attract international talent as an important factor in its success.

However, a headhunter who hunts more senior scalps says there's been no increase in interest in coming to London among US bankers at senior VP and MD level. "We haven't seen anything dramatic," he says. "At the senior end it's all down to who holds the relationship."

At the junior end, by comparison, it's increasingly just down to relevant deal experience. "If we had North American CVs, clients wouldn't have been interested two years ago - they all wanted European candidates who spoke more than one language," says Cairns. "Now they're interested in hiring talent on both sides of the Atlantic as long as they're technically competent."

AUTHORAnonymous

Insider Comment

HK
HK
27 June 2007
Just curious what the tax rate is for the highest income bracket in UK
Reply
Li
Libby
14 June 2007
When New York get their draconian regulatory systems liberalised, the shift will turn back to the Big Apple.
Reply
AB
ABC
12 June 2007
London sucks to the core..... The Londoners have an attitude which not only sucks but stinks. We have a bratty assistant in our team... only Londoner can make such an assistant... I am not even talking abt the big fat traders who wont get laid if they dont pay money.... the environment in the banks is just monstrous.... I will be better off using my energies elsewhere rather than break my head against such huge egos!
Reply
An
Anon
12 June 2007
Jake, thats a London thing! These Londoners are famous for that :P
Reply
An
Anonymous
12 June 2007
For quality of life i don't know, i lived in England for 1 year and i loved it because as a European it is close from home and as a lot of Europeans, I liked London because it felt between Europe (means good life) & US (means business)... But I lived in Tokyo and am now I am in NYC, currently i do not want to back to London because it is simply too expansive, only business (too many bankers per inhabitant), too white (most of the foreigner are europeans), Tokyo was radically different and with expat packages it is very often easy to make much more than in London, NYC has a lot else than bankers and is truely multicultural and people are a bit nicer... which for me makes the life a bit more comfortable even though salaries are lower and the "hot finance" in truely in London.
Reply