In total, major banks hired more than 100 employees this year in total.
HONG KONG, Aug 13 - New investment banks in Australia have ramped up hiring to rebuild their depleted teams, after audacious talent raids https: www.reuters.com world asia-pacific dealmakers-Australia - scrambletalent - new-entrants - flex-muscles - 2021 - 03 - 18 by boutique rivals in the past year amid record dealmaking activity in the country, bankers told Reuters.
Most major banks in Australia, including Wall Street firms, have been scrambling to add bankers https: www.reuters.com article us-australia - banks-boutiques- analysis - analysis-idUSKBN 2 BA 2 RF since the start of the year as part of a campaign to defend their market share against new aggressive boutiques Barrenjoey Capital and Jarden.
Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Australia's Macquarie Group have hired more than 100 bankers in total this year, their representatives said, amid hopes that ultra-low interest rates and recovery from COVID - 19 pandemic will ensure a strong deals pipeline.
There was quite a hiring spree in investment banking and the last year or 18 months has been about as good as it's been in about five or seven years, said Graeme Bricknell, Korn Ferry head of executive search in Australia and New Zealand.
Some of these places hired only one or two people.
Australia's deal boom https: www.reuters.com business australias-deal-boom-set - Intense-high cash-pandemic - confidence-bankers - 2021 - 08 - 02 and a spike in the investment banking fees - to a 3 years high of $1.2 billion in 2021, Refinitiv data show - is fuelling the hiring rush among banks and start-up firms aiming for a juicier share of profitable mandates.
The country has seen $108.7 billion in M&A deals this year, a record high and more than quadruple the year-earlier level, making it the second biggest market in China after China.
Credit Suisse hired 52 staff in the first half of 2021, said a bank spokesman. The recruitment took place across each of its business in Australia, which includes equity and debt underwriting and M&A consulting, he added.
UBS, who was the main target of Barrenjoey's talent raid https: www.reuters.com business finance moves-around - 10 - usbs executive - Australia - resignation - sources - 2021 - 03 - 15, has hired 30 staff across investment banking, equities sales and trading and research in the past six months, according to a spokesman.
Richard Wagner has hired 20 bankers in the past year in a bid to take advantage of reduced competition for staff across the industry, its Australian CEO Morgan Stanley said.
Over the last 20 years, we have grown our Australian headcount in incremental ways. However, this year we have grown it up a notch given the disruption in 2017 at a number of competitors, said Wagner Reuters.
Macquarie has hired 14 investment bankers from January, it said in a statement to Reuters, adding that it has the largest investment banking team in Australia with over 200 bankers.
JPMorgan has added 10 in the last year, mainly in research, investing banking, equity and technology.
In June, Citigroup has added four to its services and financial products business and another four to its market and securities division, their representatives said.
Barrenjoey and Jarden, after their fierce talent war against global peers, have 275 and 115 staff in Australia, respectively spokeswomen for the banks said.