Corporate & Institutional Banking

All quiet on the western front here to be honest …. So status quo.
With all local banks having passed balance date and bonuses paid or about to be, there isn’t a lot of expectation re bonus and/or movements.
The global firms will likely experience the same but their teams are a lot smaller. It comes down to if the function is considered core to their local operations.
If we see new entrants [and subsequent hiring] this will likely occur mid 2012.

2. Any trends observed in the last 12 months?

Not a lot of movement in or out in the past year. The local banks have been relatively quiet in terms of external hiring – although there have been some internal transfers from other sectors or product groups.
A few of the global banks have looked to hire into specialist sectors eg. Real estate and resources – to complement their offerings in other product groups.
The other aspect is expectation around a broader set of skills – across advisory, capital markets, risk management … a return to the ‘senior banker’ concept.

3. How does the market differ from last year?

It all comes down to corporate activity. As this is slower it is more a matter of maintaining current clients and managing out those that meet the return hurdles.
Capital remains tight and banks will continue to service / over service their key clients well to ensure stability in revenue.
The local banks will continue with their structures or perhaps look to add additional product (fee based) offerings eg. Advisory – to complement their lending businesses.
If/when the new entrants gain their licences, there will likely be a new round of select hiring in the client coverage areas – in select sectors aligning to firm’s industry focus offshore.

4. Any particular interesting observations or case studies seen recently?

It hasn’t happened yet but will be interesting to see if the global banks seek to chase ancillary income via other products eg. Working capital/cash management solutions, supply chain and trade finance, transactional banking etc.
These are higher margin and ‘stickier’ business lines but require people infrastructure and of course access to balance sheet.