Credit Trading Will Be a Hiring Hot Spot at Banks, McKinsey Says
Credit Trading Will Be a Hiring Hot Spot at Banks, McKinsey Says
(Bloomberg) -- Credit trading desks will be a bright spot for hiring on Wall Street in the coming months, according to consulting giant McKinsey & Co., contrasting with the otherwise bleak landscape for many job hunters in the financial industry.
Firms are poised to build up their credit trading desks in anticipation of increased investor demand over the next 12 to 18 months, McKinsey said in a wide-ranging report on the industry’s health.
“We see the most aggressive hiring happening in credit trading,” McKinsey partner George Kuznetsov said in an interview.
Innovations in credit investing -- including portfolio, index and exchange-traded-fund trading -- have brought in new revenue streams that have grown rapidly in recent years, Kuznetsov said. “Banks realize they will lose relevance if they don’t gain the new capabilities very fast,” so firms that are behind will poach from competitors, forcing them, in turn, to look to fill vacancies, he said.
That means workers looking to get hired will have to keep up with the new types of trading, Kuznetsov said. “You can no longer be a specialist trader in a certain sector. You have to approach it holistically because the new innovations in the business require you to have that understanding.”
McKinsey’s report last week, drawing on public data and insights from market participants, said headcount was relatively stable at big investment banks this year as client activity surged and firms committed to maintaining their workforce during the pandemic.
But more recently, many in the financial industry have faced a less certain employment outlook. Several banks have begun wide-scale firings, and hiring activity has dropped from a year ago.
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