Bank boost for Square Mile jobs

BANKING giant Societe Generale is hiring 200 top dealmakers in a major boost for the City. The jobs will be spread mostly between London and Paris and is the biggest hiring spree this year, providing some of the hardest evidence yet the financial services jobs market has turned round after three years of savage cuts.

Other banks known to be hiring include Lazard, HSBC and Lehman Brothers with emphasis on senior mergers and acquisitions and broking specialists.

Morgan Stanley recently poached a string of brokers from Merrill Lynch.

A recruitment drive is also expected from Credit Suisse First Boston boss John Mack, who recently spoke of his equities team being at full stretch and promised the emphasis this year was on revenue growth after three years of cost cutting.

SocGen's UK head Alain Bataille told the London Evening Standard: 'This is 200 net new professionals globally in front office jobs in debt and corporate finance' not changes of people.

'Since our focus is very much Europe, the majority will be in London and Paris and, since London is a hub of our productivity platform, it will benefit fully from the new people.'

SG UK has 1,200 dealmakers in its corporate and investment banking operation based at Tower Hill, but wants to strengthen that over the next six months.

Bataille added he was looking for a range of senior hires who 'can be quickly profitable on a relatively short-term basis as part of our strategy of profitable growth'.

He ruled out fixed, guaranteed bonus packages of one to two years, some of the alluring packages thought to have been offered to Merrill brokers by Lehman during its recent hiring campaign.

SocGen is keen to expand its European capital markets team, where it is strong in convertibles, structured finance offerings and its massive derivatives business.

Likely sector specialists to be targeted will be in media and telecoms, utilities and oil and gas, its three areas of particular focus.

First-quarter profits at its corporate and investment banking division rose 66% to e329m (£216m), its second-best quarterly performance, behind only the first three months of 2000, while 2003 net profits from the division more than doubled to e1.1bn.

Meanwhile most of the City's big banks, including Lehman, Deutsche, Citigroup and Bank of America are known to have run the rule over UK broker Cazenove, whose chairman David Mayhew insists the firm is not officially up for sale and plans to press ahead with a float on the Alternative Investment Market.

The firm is also reportedly a target for Barclays.

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