According to a recent survey conducted by efinancial Careers, the following investment banks offer the most attractive pay structures:

2011 (US$k)

Deutsche Bank* (Corporate & Investment Bank) $434.6k

UBS (Investment Bank) $372.3k

Goldman Sachs** $366.3k

Credit Suisse (Investment Bank) $353k

J.P. Morgan (Investment Bank) $341.5k

Barclays (Investment Bank) $321.7k

Morgan Stanley** $264.9k

Royal Bank of Scotland (GBM)$229.4k

*Deutsche Bank figures exclude back office and support functions

**Includes compensation for asset management and wealth management divisions

The results of the Global Finance 2012 Investment Banking Awards have been revealed. The Global Winners were as follows:

Best Investment Bank: Goldman Sachs

Best Equity Bank: J.P. Morgan

Best Debt Bank: Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Best M&A Bank: Goldman Sachs

Best up-and-comer: Evercore Partners Most Creative Stifel Nicolaus Weisel

In addition the Sector 2012 Awards were announced as follows:

Consumer: Citi

Financial Institutions: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Healthcare: Piper Jaffray

Infrastructure: Scotiabank

Industrials/Chemicals: Jefferies

Media/Entertainment: J.P. Morgan

Metals & Mining: BMO Capital Markets

Oil & Gas: Goldman Sachs

Power: Morgan Stanley

Real Estate: Raymond James

Technology: Morgan Stanley

Telecoms: J.P. Morgan

There is a lot of talk about a potential double-dip recession, but some investment bankers who have seen a very strong recent deal flow are the Tech ones.

The sector is over and over proving itself very strong with small tech start-ups spitting out million pound ideas overnight. Investors, investment bankers and venture-capital players are all wondering which one will be the next big one.

Both IPOs and M&A activity are staying strong and we are seeing strong demand for software and digital media bankers. Since the new tech space is very focused on the small and mid-cap space, it’s especially the boutiques that are seeing this strong deal flow.

Going forward we expect to see start up transactions on the increase and significant cross border activity going forward in the tech space. Anybody interested in finding out more about career opportunities in this space, should contact Louise Högberg on (0207) 156 5177

Cast your minds back to December ….. Almost every futures line manager throughout the City was in hiring mode – scouting out who they could snap up in time for Q1. Christmas had come early for head hunters covering this space and those brokers, sales traders and salesmen in the Listed and ETD space [in processes] were on the verge of landing their dream jobs.

Cue January. Nothing happened – well at least no hiring happened. There were however, plenty of high profile redundancies including those at a Tier One US Investment Bank (Mentioning no nameS!). But just like our weather the banks froze and no one was getting a job. The forecast was pretty miserable and we had a long winter ahead.

March on the other hand has shown an enormous change in attitude. Banks are now hiring, brokerage houses are aggressively hiring and it’s as if Q1 never happened. The broking space (which was almost written off at one point) is picking up and even some of the large investment banks are starting to negotiate their headcount with the various HR departments.

The issue is that the bar has been raised. Where before, your P&L may have been deemed solid and acceptable at £800,000 – many line managers are now demanding candidates have a transferable client base worth in excess of £1,500,000.

It’s still a tough market but it seems that plenty is going on with the outlook being that it’s only going to get better.

Alan Mitchell are currently representing a number of institutional brokerage houses and investment banks currently hiring in the Listed/ETD futures and options space and we’d be very keen to here from high calibre bankers and brokers interested in looking for new opportunities (whether it be fixed income, equities or commodity focused).

It is no secret that Spain’s economy has been deeply affected by the economic crisis. However, combinations of a change in the banking culture and legislative changes have opened up an interesting new market in restructuring of Spanish corporates.

Until 2010 the Spanish Market had seen little corporate restructuring, the main reasons being the absence of a ‘rescue culture’ and, above all, the type of security held by banks (mostly fixed charges).

Spanish banks have traditionally been more reluctant to adopt a “rescue culture” that allows for the reorganisation of viable businesses. This is mainly because of the types of security that Spanish banks hold: banks do not have an incentive to restructure (they can simply enforce their security); otherwise, they will be assuming a newly added risk that they can do without. Banks also have the further risk of antecedent transactions being legally set aside once insolvency proceedings start which would affect any pre-insolvency restructuring solutions

An amendment to the Insolvency Law came into force on 1st January 2012, resulting in further significant reform in the market and increasing focus on restructuring of solvent but struggling corporates. Despite the emphasis of the Insolvency Law being on the survival of the debtor as a going concern, the Amendment Law attempts to promote further a rescue culture in Spain by decreasing the number of companies that are declared insolvent and the number of insolvency proceedings that end with the liquidation of the company.

As a result of the growing acceptance of rescue culture and amendments to the insolvency law the Spanish restructuring market is huge. It is now seeing a great influx of firms vying to provide advisory services to embattled Spanish corporates and creating a strong position to deliver further advisory services as the market improves.

Alan Mitchell are currently representing a number of opportunities to move into this new, exciting and growing space and would be keen to here from anyone interested in taking up such a role.

Facts about Spain

Population: 48 Million Capital: Madrid GDP: 1,415Bn$ GDP growth (real): 3.8% GDP (per capita): 33,700$ Labour force: 22 Million Unemployment: 7.6% Inflation rate: 3.8% Exports: 248.3 Bn$

For opportunities in this space please contact Ben Browning on (0207) 156 5172, or email Ben.browning@alan-mitchell.co.uk.