Is BarCap really hiring?

Everyone knows that BarCap is one of the only banks with a hiring policy right now. Or is it?

Although the bank has let it be publicly known that it's building an equities business in Asia and Europe and is looking to expand in ECM and M&A, there have been very few big name hires so far.

Moreover, several recruiters and headhunters say they've yet to see much in the way of hiring at the bank.

"It seems to be more of a fishing expedition than anything else," says one headhunter. "They've certainly interviewed a lot of people, but not much has come of it."

"There's a lot of talk, but it doesn't seem that they're taking people on board," says one equities headhunter. "It's more about informational interviewing to find out what's going on in the market. It's difficult to hire people and increase your cost base when markets are so rubbish."

Barclays Capital declined to comment.

However, according to a Financial News article published in early February, the bank had already hired 65 equities people in London.

And one BarCap insider points out that it's still early days. He says the Lehman integration was only finalised a few months ago and that the expansion plan only began in Januar. He adds that hires are happening and some big announcements imminent.