2012 Investment Banking Market Update recruitment
Although 2011 was predicted as a year of recovery, it saw the impact of political unrest in the Middle East and fallout from the US and European debt crisis add to an already stumbling global economy. For an industry so exposed to global events and market risk, Investment Banking in 2011 was of course heavily affected.
As we move into 2012 these challenges are still apparent, affecting market and investor confidence. With the exceptions of the continuing resources boom, these challenges have restricted the likelihood of any sizable deals within the first half of the year. It is these big multi billion dollar deals that the bullish models of the global investment banks are finely tuned towards and without these deals keeping the big end of town ticking over, headcount freezes and redundancies could be back in the headlines.
However, it isn’t all bad news for the Australian banker, buy side firms, independent advisory and specialist boutiques without the restrictions of overseas HQ’s will be eagerly awaiting the resumes of bulge bracket bankers should the redundancies spread to the investment banking teams. With corporate clients increasingly looking towards independent advice over that of potentially conflicting full service global banks, boutique advisory firms could be gaining ever increasing market share throughout the year.
The big bank’s traditional hunting ground of multi billion dollar deals may have declined but these clients haven’t disappeared. They still see the value in the deals being pitched to them and, once the economic outlook stabilizes and confidence returns, there is a potential back log of deals waiting to be done. It is then a question of who has the right strategy and the right talent to take advantage.