Wall Street Services In the News

Optimism rises on Wall Street BONUS PAYMENTS
Financial Times (London, England)

by David Wells
Wall Street employees are more optimistic about receiving bonuses at the end of the year, according to a study by Wall Street Services released today.

“We have seen an increase in optimism in several areas,” said Peter Laughter, chief executive of the financial services staffing firm. “Love is in the air.”

Wall Street Services – which counts Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley among its clients – said queries answered by 100 executives and managers from stock and bond brokers, investment security brokers and financial advisory service firms in New York indicated bonus expectations were up sharply from the second quarter.

There was a 7 percentage points increase in the number of managers who are expecting a bonus in 2003, with the figure climbing to 53 per cent, the survey said. Managers also were more optimistic about the possibility of handing out rises.

Possibly best of all, there was a 3 percentage point decrease in the number of managers who expect to cut staff levels further.

The feelings of goodwill follow a series of rosy second-quarter earnings reports from investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, which reported its second highest quarterly earnings ever, as well as the rise in US stock markets and a slight uptick in mergers and acquisitions activity and stock sales.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 13 per cent so far this year. If it stays positive, it will be the first annual gain in the index since 1999.

Still, many Wall Street employees and compensation consultants say they do not expect a return to the bonuses of the heyday of the technology boom and bull market any time soon, and many bankers are happy just to have a job, given that their ranks have thinned by the tens of thousands as part of cost-cutting initiatives.

For example, Merrill Lynch has cut 24,000 jobs, or a third of its staff, since 2000.

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“Wall Street Services is by far the best staffing agency I have ever worked with. The professionalism is unparalleled and the staff is extremely courteous and very diligent in their approach to finding the right match for employer and employee. The turnaround time is very quick as I was interviewing shortly after my resume was submitted… It truly was a wonderful experience to work with Wall Street Services.” Wais A., Financial Services Specialist

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