MDs: The Final Frontier

It's harder than ever to make MD, but rewards are on offer for those left behind.
It's the time of year when investment banks reveal who's been promoted to managing director. For corporate financiers, recruiters say the move is harder to make than ever.


"There's stil l overcrowding at managing director level in corporate finance," says Neil McKay, a consultant at search firm Sheffield Haworth. "Moving from executive director to managing director remains a very tough call. Fewer people than anticipated have left the industry at senior levels," he adds.

The good news, is that McKay says banks this year paid higher bonuses to placate ambitious corporate financiers who didn't get promoted. He says ambitious EDs received 25% more than MD promotes, with the addition paid largely in stock.

This week, UBS announced the promotion of 360 people to managing director, of whom around 190 were working in the investment bank. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also announced their new MDs in the past month, with 208 rising up at Goldman Sachs and 220 making the leap at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley promoted 10% more MDs this year than in 2005, although it was unclear which area of the bank they went into.

Banks' lists of MD promotes also reveal interesting discrepancies in the success of women. At Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, some 20% of MD promotes were women. At UBS by comparison, the figure was closer to 14%.

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