eFC Briefing: Slots In Fixed-Income, Prime Brokers

U.S. Bank plans 30 hires for new high-grade fixed-income group and national corporate banking group. At least three bulge-bracket banks have made or plan hires for prime broker units.

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U.S. Bank has hired two former Wachovia bankers to create a Charlotte-based high-grade fixed income team and a national corporate banking group targeting the Southeastern U.S. The bank expects to hire 30 employees for the office by the end of 2009. Jim Kelligrew will lead the fixed-income group and manage employees in several other cities across the country.

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With hedge funds showing signs of life, banks are polishing up their prime broker arms. The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigroup has added 18 people to its prime broker business so far this year, and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch intends to add 40. A month ago eFinancialCareers News picked up indications of New York-based prime broker hires at Goldman Sachs.

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Recently published research says analysts holding the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation outperform those without the charter on measures such as timeliness and market influence. As Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Willis points out, that's an uplifting message for tens of thousands who sat for the exam last weekend.

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Removing one major source of uncertainty in the bank compensation picture, The Wall Street Journal reports the Obama administration decided to scrap an announced $500,000 salary cap for employees at firms receiving taxpayer-funded aid. However, TARP recipient firms will still be subject to a separate bonus cap enacted by Congress, plus stringent oversight by the administration's newly named "pay czar," Kenneth Feinberg.

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If you've been thinking of applying to work at a federal regulatory agency but fear the adminstration's looming overhaul might blow your target out of the water, here's one scenario you can stop worrying about: a merger between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. That isn't in the cards, CNNMoney.com reports.

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Not fearing your job might disappear if your team figured out it could get on without you for a week or two, 53 percent of eFinancialCareers News users who answered our recent poll say they plan to take a vacation this summer. Meanwhile, just 20 percent echoed an early-May CNN story that warned "a temporary vacation could lead to permanent time off."

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Companies are reluctant to hire new accounting and finance professionals, but a scant 8 percent plan third-quarter layoffs, according to the Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index.