Brazil salaries just "too high" for some foreign banks

by Vivianne Rodrigues, FT Tilt • More from this author

While some investment banks, such as UBS and Citibank are going on a
hiring spree in Brazil, Deutsche Bank is actually shifting some posts to
"lower cost" centers in places such as... the United States.

"It sounds a bit ironic, but the cost of qualified personnel in Brazil
now is very high," Burkhard Ziegenhorn, managing director and regional
head for Latin America at Deustche Bank told FT Tilt on the sidelines of
the World Economic Forum in Rio de Janeiro.

Ziegenhorn said, without giving details, that Deustche Bank Brazil
shifted several positions to its American hub in Jackonsville, Florida.

"I've never worked in such a vibrant place, so full of business
opportunities," he said. "Still, the high salaries sought by many
qualified (but also quite young) bankers in Brazil is just unrealistic."

In one example, a 24-year old Brazilian banker with Deutsche in Sao
Paulo recently left the bank to join another investment firm for a
stratospheric annual salary of R$350,000 ($225,000).

Ziegenhorn is echoing a complaint made by several local and foreign
companies operating in Brazil, that the combination of a booming
economy, strong currency, rising inflation and shortage of qualified
personnel is squeezing one of the country's traditional comparative
advantages: lower relative costs.

"Brazil used to be a cheaper (manufacturing and service) center when
compared with the U.S. and Europe," Frederico Fleury Curado, the
president of aircraft maker Embraer, told FT Tilt. "Not anymore. I
wonder what impact that will have on the country in the long run."

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Next thing you know, they'll be making steel in Pittsburgh and cars in
Detroit.