The bankers most fearful for their jobs in 2023
It’s snowing in the Northern Hemisphere, but don’t let that scare you away from going into the office.
Our annual compensation survey, which 1,500 readers responded to this year, found that 28% of respondents were fearful for their job security – with huge variance across different industry sectors.
Broadly, job paranoia on the buy-side was relatively flat across different areas: people working in private equity, hedge funds, and traditional asset managers were equally fearful about their jobs.
The sell side is much more interesting in its variation. Despite the huge downturn in revenues earned across debt capital markets (DCM), equity capital markets and M&A businesses, perceived job security in these sectors is stronger than the average.
Instead, it's people in equities sales and trading, finance, and research that have the biggest fears, despite the (relative) strength shown by equities revenues compared to core investment banking divisions. Equity researchers might find themselves better served in hedge funds, anyway – not just for the job security but for the pay.
The insecurity of compliance jobs might raise eyebrows, given that banks including Bank of America and Citi are gobbling up top talent in the middle office like trail mix.
We reported last week that ESG-orientated bankers are some of the safest specialists in the industry. Harrington Moore co-founder Jason Moore noted that demand was strong and growing for them – “it’s much bigger now than it was even twelve months ago,” he noted, “and in 12 to 24 months, it will be a much more established market.”
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