Rothschild is not known for big recruitment drives (or large redundancy plans) nor is it heaving with expensive traders and bulging IT departments. But, this publicity shy pure play investment bank has quietly been doing rather well.

As Financial News points out today, Rothschild has made nearly $1bn in advisory fees for the year to March 2012, according to results hidden away in a release from an obscure French-listed company Paris Orléans. Yes, this might not seem amazing – and it still lags behind its main rival Lazard, with $1.04bn – but this is more than the likes of UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup and with a decidedly smaller team.

Rothschild employed 1,185 people at the end of last year (only a tiny decrease from the 1,204 in 2010) and paid them an average of £232k – up from £213k in the previous year.

What’s more, it doesn’t go for your average investment banker. One bulge bracket bank described Rothschild team as “an eclectic mix” of long-serving staff. They work a larger number of smaller deals, which is surely a way to ensure that investment bankers remain employable (providing advisory work doesn’t slide too far).

The bank is benefiting from a move towards independent advice, isn’t going to be pressured into swingeing cuts as a result of a bad quarterly report (because it doesn’t release them) and has very low staff turnover. If you’re looking for a more secure position, surely Rothschild is an option.

Meanwhile:

Traders at RBS, Barclays and UBS are to be arrested “imminently” over Libor manipulation (Reuters)

Bob Diamond’s departure was the last hurrah of the Gordon Gekko culture (Bloomberg)

BlackRock is recruiting new staff to replace poor stock-pickers (Financial News)

Can Cititec hold on to top bankers after buying Credit Agricole’s CLSA broker business? (Reuters)

CLSA is an “insane asylum” know for good parties, eccentric analysts and publicity-grabbing annual forums (Wall Street Journal)

Julius Baer is hiring in emerging markets, but cutting back in Switzerland (eFinancialCareers Switzerland)

Lloyds could speed up the ring-fencing of its retail and investment banking divisions (Sunday Telegraph)

Another argument for splitting retail and investment banks (Independent)