If you are ‘efficient’ you should be safe. In a world where banks are all about saving money, this is the theory. So long as you’re generating enough revenue to more than cost the cover of your ‘seat’ and the capital associated with your activities, you’ll be in one of the safe jobs and will be fine. But how much is enough?
We don’t have any hard figures, but using data derived from its own research, banking intelligence company Tricumen has produced some spider charts which offer some pointers.
In the charts below, Tricumen shows how each bank deviates from the normal ratio of operating revenues to front office headcount by product and region. The black dotted ‘0’ line is the average, the lines either side the standard deviation. Anything above the average is good; anything below the average is bad. Only one bank (Goldman Sachs) is above the average in every business and every market.
Operating revenue and front office headcount by business and bank in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
In EMEA capital markets (equity capital markets and debt capital markets), Tricumen’s data suggests the best and most efficient bank to work for is Goldman Sachs. The least is RBS. In EMEA fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) sales and trading, Tricumen suggests Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and Goldman Sachs all make equally efficient use of their front office staff. By comparison, RBS, Barclays, BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse are comparatively inefficient. And in EMEA equities sales and trading, Tricumen suggests you do want to work for J.P. Morgan and you don’t want to work for Citigroup.
Source: Tricumen
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Source: Tricumen
Source: Tricumen
Operating revenue and front office headcount by business and bank in the Americas
Tricumen’s data for the Americas suggests Goldman Sachs is the place to work in ECM and DCM, while SocGen and RBS (which isn’t really active in this market anyway….) are best avoided. Deutsche Bank’s US staff are surprisingly efficient in US fixed income, currencies and commodities trading, almost matching Goldman Sachs’. And in U.S. equities sales and trading Tricumen suggests there are only two places to work: Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley.
Source: Tricumen
Source: Tricumen
Source: Tricumen
Operating revenue and front office headcount by business and bank in Asia Pacific
If you’re looking for a nice, safe, efficient place to work in APAC capital markets, Tricumen’s data steer you in the direction of Goldman Sachs and away from UBS. In fixed income sales and trading, however, UBS is the place to be in APAC and Credit Suisse looks best avoided (which is surprising given that Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam is determined to devote additional resources to APAC). In equities, Tricumen suggests that Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are all making good use of their APAC staff, whereas UBS, Deutsche and Citi look a little flabby. You have been warned.
Source: Tricumen
Source: Tricumen
Source: Tricumen
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Photo credit: scales by Chris_J is licensed under CC BY 2.0.