Reversal of fortunes for corporate bankers

Corporate banking, an area that was aggressively expanded in Ireland last year, is now facing a recruitment freeze.

Last year corporate bankers were the darlings of the Emerald Isle, with credit analysts, relationship, acquisition and project finance managers all eagerly courted by players like Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank as they ramped up their teams.

Now recruiters involved in big deals last year say the well has suddenly run dry, as banks hold their breath over the international markets.

James Hayes, manager - banking and finance division, at recruiters Robert Walters, says: "Whilst many of the larger domestic banks continue to expand and grow their loan books abroad (such as the US and the Continent), they have implemented a recruitment freeze in the short term in Ireland. With the uncertainty of capital markets globally, many banks have chosen to amend their budgets and take a conservative view."

This view is confirmed by Bank of Ireland, who told us that they have no domestic hiring plans within corporate banking in the near future. They did, however, point to the massive expansion of the corporate banking team in the US, which has swelled from 25 to 100 people over the last year, as well as a beefing up of UK operations.

AIB Capital Markets has a vacancy for a relationship manager within its corporate banking division, but refused to comment on the state of the market as its annual results are shortly to be released.

Greg O'Hanlon, executive search consultant at headhunters Dalríada, agrees about the lack of activity: "We're still working on a few deals within the investment banking space, but these were planned before the current market turmoil. I suspect we will see very little activity in this space in the near future."

The hiring halt seems to have caught recruiters by surprise. Robert Walters' 2008 salary survey was still predicting continued expansion this year.

The survey also revealed that in spite of the increased demand last year, salaries remained frozen.

It suggested that it was only relationship managers at five-plus years' experience levels who saw any increase in their salaries during 2007, rising from €75k-110k to €80k-115k. Pay for other roles, like credit analyst and corporate banking manager, remained unmoved.

Hayes says banks are operating strict salary bands, to prevent any out-of-kilter salary hikes as a result of the spike in staff numbers.