As equities hiring finally slows, Nomura rumoured to pay its researchers poorly

Not long ago, equity research was hot, JPMorgan, RBC, Jefferies, Exane, Citigroup and Credit Suisse were among those said to be hiring.

Suddenly, this isn't the case any more.

As Financial News points out this morning, the anticipated increase in equity revenues hasn't happened. Year on year, they were flat in the first quarter.

Headhunters say this is feeding through to recruitment.

"Things have changed in the last couple of weeks," says one. "The commissions have been low and there seems to be less commitment. We're seeing less willingness to write big tickets."

Another equities headhunter verifies this: "It's fair to say, hiring's slowed down recently," he sighs.

Some places are still hiring however: RBC, Berenberg, Jefferies and SocGen are rumoured to be hiring researchers in Europe.

Bonus rumours at Nomura

This is fortunate, because some equity researchers at Nomura are rumoured to be looking for new jobs.

The bank announced its bonuses last week, and research bonuses were allegedly disappointing.

"25% of people appear to have been zeroed," claims one equities headhunter. "There's a lot of unrest."

"We're getting a lot of resumes from Nomura," alleges another headhunter. "They hired quite a few people on guarantees last year and I guess other people have been paid down as a result."

Nomura didn't immediately return a call asking for comment.

Nevertheless, its alleged equity compensation indiscretions may be no worse than its rivals. UBS and Morgan Stanley are both said to have paid their equity researchers poorly too.

Equity research is obviously not a route to large pots of money. Neither is it necessarily a route to a large quantity of jobs.