LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters):
A majority of investment banks expect to step up hiring next year, which they predict will be just as buoyant for the financial markets as 2006, a survey said on Friday.
The survey by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley found that 75 per cent of big employers in the City of London financial services sector expect hiring activity to be greater than in 2006.
"Despite some murmurs in the market that 2006 will be a hard act to follow, the research and anecdotal evidence suggests that the overriding sentiment in the city is that 2007 will be another strong year," said Robert Thesiger, Morgan McKinley chief executive.
Banks in the City of London finance arena have had a record year from a flood of M&A deals that have topped the trillion dollar mark.
Boom times mean some hefty bonuses for successful bankers, with Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley among the first of the banks to tell staff how much they are getting.
Bankers typically stay in their current jobs until their bonus cheque is in the bank before looking around to see what else might be on offer.
Statistics
Morgan McKinley's statistics backed this up, showing a 16 per cent drop in new financial services jobs in November versus October.
Thesiger said the job market would become more active again in the early months of 2007 when bankers will have pocketed their bonuses.
He said the level of bonuses this year would be high because of the buoyant market conditions.
"But the bonus season is also time to have a bit of a spring clean as well," Thesiger said.
"You reward your stars and real profit generators, but also it's an opportunity to start thinking about how to realign your head count."
A number of banks, including HSBC, Dresdner Kleinwort, JPMorgan Cazenove and Royal Bank of Scotland have been trimming some staff.
Morgan McKinley said year on year figures showed that new jobs created in the city are up by about a third. Its survey showed that in November this year new city jobs totalled 7,560, up from 5,796 in November 2005.
