Perella Weinberg also asked its analysts to defer their arrival
It's not just Credit Suisse and UBS. Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) would also prefer that its 2023 analyst class don't turn up next month after all.
This year's incoming PWP analysts in London say they've been invited to defer their arrivals until July 2024. PWP isn't commenting, but the boutique firm is understood to be offering its juniors an additional £5k ($6.4k) in sign-on bonus if they go away for 12 months.
Few of the incoming analysts are thought to have taken up the offer.
PWP's attempt to dissuade its new juniors from joining comes after the firm laid off junior bankers in London as it cut 7% of its headcount or fewer than 50 people. Staff compensation accounted for 90% of revenues in the first quarter of 2023.
Other banks are having similar issues, but are offering more generous inducements to stay away. Credit Suisse is mandating that its first year analysts start in February and is kindly paying them $30k to do something else. Even with the $30k, the Swiss bank had few voluntary takers for its scheme.
In asking this year's incoming analysts to defer their arrivals until next year, banks are creating a difficult situation for next year's hiring round: with places already filled by this year's deferrals, there will be fewer opportunities for 2024 graduates. Similarly, it will be much harder to get a return offer from this year's internships.
Things may be looking up, however. In a post today, Goldman Sachs said M&A is picking up. Last week, 27 $500m+ M&A deals were announced - the highest number year-to-date.
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