Just to reiterate, 2010 has been an EXCEPTIONALLY good year for hiring

Now that all the investment banks which break out their investment banking headcount have reported their third quarter results, we are able to contemplate this year's hiring in its entirety, rather than fractionally, as last week.

The conclusion: 2010 has been an outstanding year for investment banking recruitment.

Over the past nine months, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse (investment bank) and UBS (investment bank) have added 9,836 people. This represents a headcount increase of 9.2%.

To put this in recent context, in 2009 banks added 3,342 people. In 2008, they cut 15,831.

This year's biggest hirer has been...Deutsche Bank, whose headcount has swollen a massive 14.7%. This year's most restrained recruiter has been...JPMorgan, which has restricted itself to a mere 7.0% addition.

Bank by bank headcount changes (%), Q409-Q310

Deutsche Bank: 14.7%

Credit Suisse: 9.3%

Goldman Sachs: 8.9%

UBS: 8.6%

JPMorgan: 7.0%