Lunchtime Links: Frankfurt is where the action is

We haven't drawn anyone's attention to this previously. Maybe we should have. Frankfurt is hot.

BNP Paribas has appointed a new head of German investment banking and wants to expand its German team. SEB is growing in Germany, VTB is hiring in Germany. So is HSBC. German recruiters report particular demand for juniors in IBD.

This isn't entirely surprising. According to Thomson Reuters, announced M&A in Germany rose nearly 250% in the first quarter. Now, even while German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble tries to resolve the Greek debt issue, the New York Times is pointing out that Germany is an important success story.

Most particularly:

- The German economy has grown faster than the US economy since 2005

- German growth hasn't been focused on a small group of affluent people

- Germany did not have a housing bubble

- German children have stronger maths and science skills than US children

- Germany's budget deficit is comparatively small

- Germany's unemployment rate is still low

Eurozone collapse not withstanding, therefore, the Germany economy looks comparatively good. And a comparatively good economy correlates with comparatively good investment banking revenues. Conclusion: for the moment, Frankfurt is looking appealing.

Vince Cable says British banks must lend more money or pay more taxes. (Guardian)

Evercore has tripled its European headcount by buying Lexicon Partners. (Financial Times)

There are signs that relative pay is falling. Top traders in investment banks earned maybe $40m four years ago: now they pull in a mere $15m. (Management Today)

Jefferies is still building its fixed income business and has hired a new head of fixed income multi-product sales. (Bloomberg)

At the Beijing Sports Car Club, a $220,000 Porsche SE 911 counts as an entry-level model. (Bloomberg)

BofA has hired a new head of insurance investment banking from Morgan Stanley in Asia. (Reuters)

Meredith Whitney: "I've looked for layoffs on Wall Street for the past six months. You have a clear issue: Wall Street's revenues were driven by something as unsexy as the housing market." (BusinessWeek)

Very slow moving dwarf stops the traffic in the City of London. (Twitter)