Who's hiring outside the UK

If you don't work for Tullett Prebon and your current employer's not amenable to helping you go and work somewhere where the taxes are a little lower than in the UK, this is for you.

Here is a short (and non-definitive) guide to who's hiring in each of the following locations:

Australia

Who's hiring:

Barclays Capital is building its equities trading business. Hong Kong based brokerage CLSA is also expanding in equities.

Jon Michel, chief executive of Jon Michel Executive Search in Sydney also points to hiring at Palladio Partners (founded by Tony Burgess, former co-head of global investment banking at Deutsche Bank), Aqua Asia (run by the ex-heads of M&A at ABN AMRO), Capella (run by Babcock's former PPP team), as well as Sigiryria, Allier Capital, Moelis Capital, Silverfern, and another mid cap US broker opening 2010 yet to be announced.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has also been doing some vigorous growing in Australia- it hired 35 people in the three months to September.

Brazil

Who's hiring?

Goldman Sachs is expanding in Brazil. In October it revealed that it was hiring 11 private bankers to start a private banking and fund management operation there.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has doubled its number of Brazilian investment bankers to 30, and plans to add more.

Hong Kong and Singapore

Who's hiring?:

Most banks are hiring, but only strategically, according to headhunters. Cash equities, ECM, investment banking, and rates and FX trading are all said to be comparatively hot. However, in most cases the numbers being hired aren't huge.

The bigger hirers du jour are Daiwa, said to be looking to hire as many as 470 people in Asia over the next two to three years; BarCap, still said to be hiring across cash equities and fixed income; and Standard Chartered, which hired more than 50 people from Cazenove Asia, and is building in M&A, ECM, and private banking.

India

Who's hiring?

Barclays Capital wants to double the size of its Indian investment banking team. And Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are seeking banking licenses in India so that they start offering derivatives and FX products to Indian investors.

Russia

Who's hiring?

Renaissance Capital is staging making a comeback. Last week, it emerged that it's opening a representative office in Belarus, ahead of an anticipated sell-off of state assets. Meanwhile, The Times reports that RenCap plans to hire between 200-300 people over the next 12 months.

South Africa

Who's hiring?

As we're reporting on our South African site, Absa Capital has "big recruitment plans" for 2010.

Claire Harding, head of HR, told us next year's build will focus on infrastructure areas like IT and product control, but that there will also be hires to facilitate the 'further development' of front office businesses.

The downside

The slight problem with migrating out of the City of London is that most organizations hiring overseas are looking for local 'talent.' Headhunters caution against supposing a move will be easy.

Thacker at Sheffield Haworth says there are still lots of local bankers out of the market in Asia. "Most places are looking for people with local relationships and local expertise - you might get an interview, but it would be over in a few minutes once they asked who you know in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore."

And Michel says it's questionable whether Australian clients will be willing to sponsor candidates without workpermits.

"Obviously, their first preference is for local employees currently working for competitors, then offshore returnees, then overseas nationals with visas, then overseas nationals with a real reason to be here, or a demonstrable commitment to working in Australia," he says.

However Michel adds that there probably won't be enough Australian bankers to fill all the vacancies in Sydney next year. And, in Russia, RenCap has let it be known that it's targeting London bankers specifically.