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Blood on the floor at Merrill

We were told by several people that Merrill chopped bankers in London yesterday. Things have apparently been particularly nasty in fixed income sales, with 35 out of around 150 salespeople in the City allegedly asked to leave.

Equity sales and trading, private banking, and fixed income sales in Germany are also said to have been affected.

The redundancies follow apparent assurances by John Thain on Monday that although thousands of redundancies were imminent, they'd be mostly in the middle office. These assurances were followed (correctly it now appears) by claims from informed sources that fixed income would definitely be in the firing line.

One fixed income headhunter says the cuts have largely impacted structuring and sales, with trading unaffected. This may not remain the case. "For the moment, they need the traders to hold the positions. When the positions have been closed they'll be stuffed," he says.

According to US banking analyst Dick Bove, Merrill's most recent cuts could be the tip of the iceberg: he's predicting that 10,000 jobs at the bank will go during the integration with Bank of America.

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AUTHORSarah Butcher Global Editor
  • Al
    Alavda
    16 April 2009

    Hey. There is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry.
    I am from Liechtenstein and also now'm speaking English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Com offers discount international airline tickets and to search and book discount airline tickets, or make car, hotel, or other travel."

    With best wishes ;-), Alavda.

  • Ac
    Ace
    27 October 2008

    Sadly we can't name-and-fame (or) name-and-shame HH firms here.

    Some smaller agencies are usually more focussed & discrete for front office roles. Larger firms have some great consultants, but may not always respond to every enquiry. Look for agencies that provide consultant names, contact details & explain practice areas, consultants who receive calls & call-back to discuss, who do not demand CVs upfront, who provide honest feedback on realistic chances, and who respect the confidentiality required of the profession.

    There's a good clue embedded in my first message on an agency to avoid. Try this - scout job boards for roles, spot this agency which has flooded them with roles, which requires CVs sent to generic mailboxes without mention of any consultant's name, which immediately responds with an automated email requiring disclosure of other interviews, and which badgers you with follow-up enquiries of similar nature, and which doesn't really give you more than what you provide.

  • st
    still employed
    25 October 2008

    Could I hear from front office people which recruiting firms have demonstrated trustworthiness and ability to represent candidates appropriately?
    thanks

  • bc
    bc
    25 October 2008

    "Just a recruiter" - you are just a middleman: no candidates = nothing to show to the Client = no money. If no candidates ever want to do business with you again, how do you make money? we can go straight to the desks at other banks ourselves and increasingly this is happening.
    Look - the specific HH firm we talk about asks us who we have been interviewing with, the exact desks we are talking to, the names of people.... hell even the questions we get asked. I ask "why do you want to know"? The last time the answer was: "errrrr because we want to make sure we do not talk to people you have met already". me: "so who are you talking to?" "errrr so who have you been talking to?" Desperation. No quality HH would dare to ask these questions.
    Been around for 10 years - know how most HHs operate - don't tell me that i am not aware of what is actually going on. We also make a judegment on whether you guys are worth using. Like Ace says - trust needs to be built - if you think after one meeting that's the case and we give you permission to go off "pitching" us then you are seriously mistaken

  • Ac
    Ace
    24 October 2008

    J.a.R, As a candidate, I am not desperate to spread my CV all over town. I want to build trust with a recruiter that represents me. Should the good intentions that you mentioned earlier be outlined by the ( & by just the one firm that we were talking about ) HH firm, then such trust is built. The intent however, is seemingly to ferret out client names to source business from - and that deters my gameplan as a candidate.

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The essential daily roundup of news and analysis read by everyone from senior bankers and traders to new recruits.