All aboard the analyst merry-go-round

With analyst bonuses about to be paid, some banking juniors will soon be looking for new homes. Will they be left out in the cold?

Not according to recruiters, who say there are just as many jobs around as ever. "There's still plenty of demand from private equity houses for analysts from top-tier banks," says Peter Llewellyn, a consultant at recruiter Fennemore Banks. "There's also plenty of demand from investment banking and from the leveraged finance side."

In the past few years private equity funds and hedge funds have poached analysts with two or more years' experience from the best banks, leaving banks to turn to rivals and to the second tier to fill the gaps.

Recruiters say problems in the US sub-prime mortgage sector and subsequent twitchiness around hedge funds and private equity have done little to alter this state of affairs: "More and more hedge funds are bringing on juniors," says Jim Nairn, a consultant at Cornell Partnership.

One investment banking junior cautions about moving too soon, however: "If you're moving from analyst three to associate, you're better off waiting until the post-Christmas period when you'll get a full year as an associate with the new organisation."