We are seeing a healthy return to the market for 2024. We have had more engagement at this early stage of the year than we were expecting, with solid demand from both old clients and new planning for their 2024 hiring needs. 

There is a lot of optimism in the market, and many people in fund finance have come into 2024 re-energised, looking forward with positivity, and ready to leave 2023 behind them. Do we think we’ll be as busy as we were in 2022? Probably not, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

Some institutions have been given large mandates to grow in specific areas, especially among the mid-size banks, which has already led to discussions as our clients get a head start on targeting the best talent. We are coming up to bonus season very shortly, which for quite a few of our clients is an opportunity to hire without the potential baggage of buying out or negotiating a bonus that is already in play.

There is also continued interest from clients who are moving into new markets, which of course is always a healthy sign, but these moves will only make themselves apparent in the market later this year.

We have also had a lot of enquiries and discussions around compensation – there is a distinct uptick in engagement with people who are looking at the market and reevaluating compensation levels, especially given that bonus season is on the near horizon. 

We are optimistic about the mid-market in the US this year. Last year new lenders entered the market, who were able to secure balance sheets and build out their core teams. This year they have been given growth targets which will necessitate significant increase in headcount, However, without the in-house resources in place needed to train new fund finance talent, they are using the external hire, plug-and-play approach to speed up the process.

We are also looking forward to the FFA Global Fund Finance Symposium at the end of February. Once again, we are delighted to be a proud sponsor of the event – it is a phenomenal opportunity to network and interact with our US colleagues. We also find it a great platform to kick the year off with, where we can gauge in-person the mood of the market.

The symposium will be a little longer this year, which means we will have even more opportunity to meet with people. Brickfield will once again have a booth this year, with copies of our compensation report and advisory report available.