Fixed income hiring at DBS Bank shows no sign of slowing as a record deal sends the Singapore dollar bond market into overdrive. In a landmark SG$1.5bn transaction earlier this month, the bank successfully sold the largest-ever local currency bond. But recruiters warn that all this domestic bliss won’t offset the overall stagnation in debt capital markets recruitment.

DBS, which has been ramping up its fixed income team for four years, continues to hire “professionals dealing with Asian bonds, both in the domestic and international space”, says Clifford Lee, the bank’s managing director and head of fixed income.

Lee tells us that the Singapore dollar market has now come of age. “The market has taken note of the overwhelming response the DBS issue received, so it wouldn't surprise us to see more of such deals this year. In fact, other banks have already been calling us to more actively explore tapping the SG$ market.”

This news offers some crumbs of comfort to laid-off bond specialists in the Lion City. One recruiter, who asked not be named, reports that Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse have all been wielding the axe.

Australians and Japanese hiring too

But while the bulge bracket is cutting back, smaller players in Singapore – in particular Australian firms ANZ, CBA and Macquarie, as well as Japanese banks Tokyo Mitsubishi and SMBC – are hiring, says Gary Lai, a manager at recruiters Robert Walters. But, he adds, “There’s not much growth this year, with redundancies balancing out new recruitment.”

Longer-term prospects look more rosy, according to Lee. “As Asia's financial markets develop breadth and depth over time, and they will, the need for more fixed income specialists who can originate Asian G3 [euro, yen and US dollar] and local currency bonds for international distribution will certainly grow.”

Stagnation has also set in over in Hong Kong, although second-tier banks such as RBS are still recruiting, says Andrew Westmacott, a manager at Pelham Search Pacific. “Fixed income has declined in some areas, especially within the banks hardest hit by the credit crunch, but it’s picked up for people specialising in the Chinese and Indian markets.”