Asset, wealth managers set to take the bonus crown for 2013
After decades of seeing bankers and traders take home annual bonuses that dwarf their total compensation, asset and wealth managers may have finally leveled the playing field, at least for one year.
Wall Street employees as a whole should see a 5% to 10% uptick in bonuses for the year, with financial advisors and asset managers leading the way, according to a new report from compensation analyst Johnson & Associates. Bonuses for money managers could rise as much as 15%.
Then there are the bond traders and merger bankers, who have suffered through an incredibly sluggish 2013 marred by a difficult interest rate environment and a tough M&A market. Merger bankers could see a 5% to 10% dip in bonuses. Bond, currency and commodities traders, meanwhile, are facing a 15% drop.
“What’s interesting is, for decades almost every year the big Wall Street firms were the highest-paid firms in financial services,” Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, told the New York Times. Now, the shoe appears to be on the other foot.
Those working at hedge funds and private equity firms should see a small bump in bonuses, according to the report. In the investment banking sector, the only real winner will be underwriters, who may see as much as a 15% rise in incentivized comp.
What Recruiters Look For (eFinancialCareers)
Recruiters spend an average of six seconds looking at your resume to see if you’re a fit for a particular position. In that time, these are the five things they are looking for.
Goldman Sachs’ new “Saturday rule” goes into effect this weekend. “All analysts and associates are required to be out of the office from 9PM on Friday until 9AM on Sunday,” Goldman president Gary Cohn told employees in a memo.
Not a Bad Backup Plan (NY Post)
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly is in talks with J.P. Morgan over a top security job that could see him take home a seven-figure salary. Kelly is expected to vacate his city post following the election of Bill de Blasio, who’s not much of a Ray Kelly fan.
Tech Kings (eFinancialCareers)
With the Twitter IPO now behind us, we ranked the top banks to work for if tech underwriting is your thing. Not surprisingly, all the big boys are accounted for.
Michael Sherwood, co-head of Goldman Sachs Group’s European business, has been handed added responsibilities with the retirement of J. Michael Evans. Sherwood will now oversee the bank’s emerging markets business as well.
Sandeep Aggarwal, the technology analyst arrested for allegedly passing inside information to SAC Capital traders, is expected to plead guilty. Seeing the firm do the same thing earlier this week may have made his decision easier.
Buzz Around the Office
Sweden has developed a new rating system to help moviegoers identify films with potential gender biases. To earn an “A,” all a movie needs to do is feature a scene where two named female characters have a conversation about anything other than a man. A ridiculous number of famous movies fail the test.
List of the Day: Interview Clichés
Most every interview will start off with a clichéd question or two. Prepare answers to these common questions.
- Tell us a little about yourself.
- Why do you want to work here?
- What is your biggest weakness?
