Latest articles
Being a boss of 2,000: Stewart Carmichael, MD and CTO, investment bank, Asia Pacific, J.P. Morgan, discusses retention, his career challenges and life as a “gypsy”
Q: Was banking what you always envisioned yourself doing? No it wasn’t, I originally joined a technology firm because I was looking to leverage on the education I had in computer science. Twenty five years ago, there wasn’t as much awareness of financial services, which is much more mainstream now. I worked for a couple [...]
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Daily Dispatches: ANZ readies for massive Chinese growth; Macquarie cuts fixed-income jobs in Singapore
ANZ will be pumping A$300m into China – growing its current six branches to 20 in the next five to 10 years. Australia’s third largest lender isn’t the only one with growth ambitions, DBS and HSBC are also looking to expand on the mainland. (Bloomberg) Macquarie Group has shed six positions in its Asia fixed-income [...]
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Ask the expert: Put your CFA questions to Neil Govier, 7City’s Singapore MD
We are speaking to financial training firm 7City’s managing director for Singapore, Neil Govier, later this month. But before we go, we’d like you to tell us your most pressing questions about the CFA, so we can ask them on your behalf. Whether this relates to the sort of career opportunities the qualification opens you up [...]
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Daily Dispatches: Boss of J.P. Morgan’s errant employee quits
There has been one resignation at JPMorgan Chase after the US$2bn trading blunder, another two are expected to follow. Ina Drew, its chief investment officer and one of the firm’s highest ranking female employees, has resigned after more than 30 years. (Daily Mail) Julius Baer is taking cost-cutting steps after its cost-income ratio rose above [...]
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Banking techies face up to the new reality of short-term “milestone” roles
“Milestones” seems to be the buzz word in finance tech recruitment these days. While budgets for IT projects were previously approved for the entire year, purse strings are increasingly being released only after certain key milestones have been completed. Although this provides firms with the flexibility to scale up or down within a quarter, the [...]
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Daily Dispatches: Frustration in the ranks at J.P. Morgan
J.P. Morgan’s trading debacle is causing employees to worry it will unfairly tarnish their reputations, while deepening concerns at rival financial firms about tougher regulations and potential rating downgrades. On Friday, J.P. Morgan sent a memo to employees with advice on how to respond to questions from clients and customers about the mess in the [...]
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Candidate Blog: Bonuses are rubbish and bankers contribute nothing to society – no wonder so many people are questioning their careers
Once upon a time, as a fresh graduate eager to make it big I remember two areas everyone wanted to get into: management consulting and investment banking. The former wasn’t for me – I knew I wanted to be a banker, with a capital B. Professional, respected, glamorous and of course well paid; it was [...]
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Daily Dispatches: J.P. Morgan admits huge trading loss; big four in China are forced to localise
JPMorgan Chase sustained trading losses of US$2bn. The loss is expected to hurt the firm’s overall earnings for the second quarter. (Bloomberg Businessweek) The Chinese government has demanded that operations of the big four accounting firms be handed over to local partners by year end. In addition, a Chinese national will have to be appointed [...]
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GUEST COMMENT: How to send out three hundred job applications for an equity trading job, and still get nowhere
I have a friend who was a junior equities trader. He joined the bank straight out of university, worked there for a few years and was made redundant. Four months into his redundancy, we spoke and he mentioned to me that he’d submitted more than 300 job applications. I didn’t totally believe this and asked [...]
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The Runaway MBA: I can’t stress it enough – dig for dirt about your potential employer before you accept an offer
Dr Seuss said: “You have brains in your head, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” This applies to your career. Yes you want a job, and you want a job that you want to do, with people that you want to work with – so don’t forget that to achieve this you [...]
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