A sharp pickup in mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings is reviving Wall Street’s job market, prompting big banks to add senior deal makers and delay planned cuts, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Banks that had been hiring selectively over the past year are now accelerating recruitment as activity jumps, even as the broader U.S. labor market cools. Executives see stronger risk appetite in boardrooms, buoyed by a booming stock market, and are pressing ahead to expand teams and compete for top rainmakers, according to the Journal.
Morgan Stanley has recently added senior bankers across healthcare, technology and industrials. Citigroup and Wells Fargo are ramping up as part of pushes to gain share. JPMorgan Chase has hired more than 100 managing directors in its global banking unit over the past year, a record for the group, WSJ said.
Hiring is concentrating at the senior end, where bankers bring relationships that convert to mandates. “The arrow is pointing upwards—they’re thinking of increased head count and taking advantage of the boom that is coming,” said Alan Johnson of Johnson Associates, in comments reported by the Journal.
Leslie Gordon of Korn Ferry told WSJ demand is particularly strong for coverage leaders in power, industrials, consumer and financial institutions.
The shift marks a turn from the past two years, when muted activity forced banks to retrench after the 2021 hiring spree, and from early spring, when tariff headlines rattled markets and boards tapped the brakes on deals. Goldman Sachs, which had prepared for head-count reductions, pivoted to hire more bankers focused on middle-market clients instead, according to the news outlet.
Still, executives caution that geopolitics and policy shocks can quickly sap momentum, and longer-term staffing needs could be tempered by banks’ growing use of artificial intelligence to boost productivity and lower costs.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal