The really big hiring is in BofA's corporate banking business
Forget the hiring that's taking place in BofA Merrill's FICC business, the hiring that's happening in its M&A business, or even the rumours regarding big hires from Nomura, the real excitement may well be in corporate banking.
Bloomberg reported last month that BofA Merrill had hired more than 12 'corporate banking executives' in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and New York since the start of the year. The real figure is likely to be even higher - the bank's own press releases suggest it's hired 12 senior corporate banking persons in Europe alone.
London appears to be the centre of all this recruitment activity. In February, the bank announced that Paul M. Donofrio as head of its Global Corporate Banking business; Donofrio is based in London.
"We have an aggressive international expansion plan across all lines of business, and in particular, in corporate banking/global treasury services," confirms BofA spokeswoman Elizabeth Wood. "It's one of the businesses that has the biggest growth opportunities for us in Europe this year."
Wood declined to say precisely how many corporate bankers BofA plans to hire.
However, one headhunter with knowledge of the matter says it's fairly substantial: "Merrill never really had corporate bankers in Europe and the acquisition brought a lot of new clients, so they need additional corporate bankers to exploit those relationships." Most of BofA's hires are likely to be doing something similar at competitor firms, he adds.
Barclays is hiring here too
BofA Merrill doesn't appear to be the only bank looking to build up its corporate relationships: Barclays is advertising for 15 relationship managers and sales directors across the UK.
Paul Hunt, managing director of recruiters Healy Hunt Partners, says banks are busy rebuilding the corporate banking teams they cut during the downturn: "There's very strong demand for business developers and relationship managers particularly with experience of the institutional and emerging markets," he says.
According to Hunt, an experienced corporate banker can expect anything from 75k to 125k, plus benefits and a 50-100% bonus.
