Lunchtime Links: Greenhill clearly illustrates the danger of hiring too many senior investment bankers quickly

Greenhill let it be known in January that it was in a spot of bother. Having hired lots of investment bankers and suffered a predictable increase in costs, it announced that it would not be paying cash bonuses to senior staff.

Today, the Wall Street Journal revisits the Greenhill pay problem. The short version: Greenhill has hired lots of people, they haven't delivered, but it still wants to hire more.

Over the past four years, Greenhill has more than doubled the number of people it employs, to 323 globally. It has also more than doubled its number of managing directors, to 68. Last year, the average Greenhill employee was paid more than the average person at Goldman Goldman Sachs, at $495k a head.

Now the implications of all that hiring are making themselves felt. In the first quarter, 75% of Greenhill's revenues went on compensation, leading to a $1.6m loss.

Does Greenhill regret its recruitment zealotry? Not at all. It won't be hiring quite as fast in future, but it remains optimistic that revenues will increase once M&A picks up. In the meantime, it plans to grow in, 'new geographic areas and industry sectors,' and assures the WSJ that its expansion is, "far from over." The words wishful thinking come to mind.

After hiring heavily in 2009, Evolution Securities has now cut its equities staff by a third. (Financial News)

UBS has increased salaries again, but only by 5-10%.(Bloomberg)

BAML is pushing into 'flow' commodities. (Financial News)

ABN AMRO is contemplating cost cutting. (WSJ)

The number of people leaving the FSA has doubled to 1 a day. (Independent)

Meet the South Asian elite dominating Wall Street. (Daily Beast)

Glencore's new chairman is really not keen on breeders. (Telegraph)

"I apologise for any offence caused by my comments regarding the role of women in business. I'm 100% committed to equal opportunities in the boardroom and across a company's structure be they private or public." (Telegraph)

How evangelical Christianity is taking a hold of the City of London's financial institutions. (Independent)

Leave the City; become a civil servant in Ireland. (Guardian)

Guy Hands now has more than four hours' sleep a night and says he's less grumpy as a result. (Financial Times)

Once upon a time, after-tax cash pay for a senior banker was $700k; now it's $380k. (WSJ)

Bankers, politicians and newspaper editors should be legally required to spend a couple of hours a year working with the poor and needy. (Guardian)

Barclays Capital accused of driving up food prices. (Guardian)

7 verbal clues that an earnings call is BS. (Bnet)