FIG hiring is still fairly big hiring

27 October 2011

2 minute read

Financial institutions group (FIG) teams have been generally immune to the trimming of 2011. If anything, banks have been bolstering their ability to offer financing and M&A advice to their fellow financial institutions. FIG hiring may even continue next year.

"We're working on about 5 mandates for VPs to go into banks' FIG M&A teams at the moment," says the head of one search firm. "FIG is always a busy sector because it's one of the biggest. Banks are getting good revenues and still seem keen to hire here."

FIG debt capital markets businesses are also keen for additional staff, says one capital markets headhunter. "There's been a fair amount of hiring this year, but there are still some positions that will need to be closed out in 2012," he says.

According to Thomson Reuters the biggest players in European FIG M&A so far this year are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, with markets shares of 38%, 17% and 21% respectively. Earlier this week, it emerged that Morgan Stanley has reorganised its FIG capital markets business into a single global global FIG practice, led by Kevin Ryan, whom Goldman had fancied recruiting, but found unavailable.

Goldman already has a similar model and other banks are looking at emulating it. "Creating a unified global business justifies cutting underperformers," says the capital markets headhunter.

RBC, Evercore, Nomura and Stormharbour have been among those building their FIG businesses this year. Stormharbour is likely to be in the market for more people soon. It hired Amir Hoveyda, a veteran Merrill FIG DCM banker in September and Hoyevda is expected to, "grow the firm's capital markets and advisory businesses," according to Reuters.

In M&A, one recruiter says junior and mid-ranking FIG specialists can be hard to come by. "The sector is seen as being quite dry and quantitative," he says. "In my experience, people prefer working in areas where the product is more tangible."

FIG capital markets bankers are, at least, likely to be busy. European banks need to raise €106bn in 8 months under last night's EU deal and Creditsights estimates that banks in Europe will need to refinance $911bn of senior bonds next year.