2011 was a tough year for finance professionals—there were layoffs at virtually every major bank, bonuses came up short, and very few people saw raises. HSBC and Bank of America are in the midst of cutting around 30,000 jobs globally, while other big names like JPMorgan, UBS, and Credit Suisse are laying off thousands more. But believe it or not, financial institutions are in fact looking to hire in 2012. Firms are looking to hire for accounting, wealth management, as well as emerging markets—especially in Asia. In addition, financial regulation implemented in 2010 after Dodd-Frank has led to the need for more agencies to monitor financial institutions, and they will need more employees to do so. While some analysts believe that this drop in hiring will continue on Wall Street, others claim that we will begin to see more finance jobs in 2012. Perhaps the upcoming January unemployment report will shed some light on the future of Wall Street hiring in 2012!
