Compared to hiring for sales and trading positions, equity research jobs appear relatively unaffected by the crunch: banks and hedge funds are still busy hiring in the area.

Lehman Brothers has recently created the new role of head of equity research, Singapore and Southeast Asia, and poached Jit Soon Lim from Citigroup to fill it. Dr Hua He, head of equity and fixed income at Lehman Brothers, says the firm is planning to further expand its research capability in Asia.

Jeremy Canning, head of Morgan McKinley’s Singapore office, says other multinational banks have been less eager to pick up equity researchers, but that hiring is still buoyant at the locals. There’s a skills shortage for experts in emerging markets, he adds.

Equity research hasn’t slumped as much as other job functions, especially on the buy-side at smaller hedge funds, says Gary Lai, front office manager at recruiters Robert Walters.

The hedgies mainly want researchers with three to seven years’ experience, adds Lai. “These firms aren’t that big and they need one or two research people who can do the number crunching as they already have their sales people in place.”

But while there are still opportunities at hedge funds, researchers at the i-banks are thinking twice before making the move. Lai explains: “Two years ago you could join a hedge fund and always go back to the sell-side fairly easily if things didn’t work out. But now that’s harder to do because the banks are cutting costs, so candidates are naturally more cautious.”

And even hedge funds are tightening their belts, says Lai. “While last year they would pay a premium over the banks of 30-40% in total compensation, these days 20% would be considered very good.”