Cantor Fitzgerald

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Amid wave after wave of job cuts, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.'s new CEO brought some good news to the table in March 2009, when he told IDD magazine that he plans to hire 100 fixed income employees and 25 investment bankers during 2009. Shawn Matthews, who a week earlier was promoted to the chief position of Cantor Fitzgerald LP's broker dealer unit (which includes debt capital markets, investment banking and equity capital markets), said that part of the reason he plans to increase headcount in the fixed income unit was due to customers "asking us to build up the business." With respect to investment banking, Matthews is looking to bring on "exceptional players in numerous areas" to strengthen the firm's debt and underwriting capabilities; restructuring and financial institutions are two areas the firm is also looking to beef up. Matthews, the former capital markets group head, added that he's also looking to expand Cantor internationally, saying the firm is "aggressively going to grow in Europe and Asia." Although the announcement of the desire to expand seemed strange given the current state of the economy (and banking industry in particular), it was nothing new for Cantor Fitzgerald. Previously, in 2008 and early 2009, the firm had hired 100 employees (mostly) within its fixed income group, and 20 specialists in high yield, distressed debt and bank debt.