Canadian Banks, Led by CIBC, Still Hiring
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Canadian bank hit hardest by the burst of the U.S. housing market, is on a recruitment drive. It's looking to add people both at its CIBC World Markets division and its retail banking unit, say Canadian recruiters.
Barrie Carlyle of David Alpin Recruiting, which does work for the bank, says Toronto-based CIBC also is kicking off a new "aggressive marketing campaign with respect to bringing folks on board," Alpin says.
Adding workers marks a change for CIBC. Last year, it sold its U.S. investment banking operations to Oppenheimer & Co. and exited debt-related activities. Meanwhile, World Markets has continued to cut jobs, paring 100 employees, about 4 percent of its workforce, in May, according to the Globe and Mail.
The cuts may have gone too far. Speaking at an investor conference in September, World Markets Chief Executive Richard Nesbitt said "We do need to add to our bench strength," according to Bloomberg. "It was substantially depleted by a couple of the rounds of departures that we've seen over the last few years."
When contacted by eFinancialCareers News, a spokesman for CIBC declined to elaborate on Nesbitt's speech.
Carlyle says the jobs CIBC wants to fill are mid-level positions such as analysts, traders and sales people. Although he's not sure how many positions are available, he did say wages are competitive. Even with Wall Street seeming to implode, getting people to fill these jobs may be difficult. Job seekers may be concerned about the financial health of CIBC, which took $7.55 billion (Canadian) in pretax write-downs tied to U.S. subprime mortgages over the past five quarters.
"All of the banks were hurt by what's happened in the U.S," observes Carlyle. "CIBC is the first out of the gate with a new phase of hiring."
The opportunities at CIBC are especially startling given the worries about the Canadian job market starting to cool. "We have seen more opportunities at CIBC in the past five months than in the previous 12," says Carlyle. "CIBC is interested in talent throughout the banking industry in Canada, and that would include its major competitors."
Those competitors are hiring as well, continuing to bring on board MBA graduates from local universities, says the Globe and Mail. In fact, graduates who might have left for greener pastures in the U.S. are sticking closer to home, the newspaper says.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the Canadian government has no plans to follow the U.S. in bailing out the financial services sector. Job growth is slowing down from previous years, but companies continue to need people with expertise in sectors such as mining and energy.
