Wall Street Expects Big Bonuses: Report

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00:00I think AI is going to be a big driver for that. I think it's the start of a new era of efficiency

00:06and productivity. I think our clients are really focusing on right-sizing their organizations from

00:12a headcount perspective to whether any downturns in the market or business downturns. So I think

00:18this is, we're at a high point, we'll see what happens next year, but AI is going to be a big

00:24driver. I always try and think about this from a college kid's perspective, because if you're

00:31getting ready to go into the professional world and your main goal is to make as much money as

00:37possible, you want to know which field you should choose. So who's doing the best and is it sustainable?

00:46I think the skill sets that are needed of college grads today are changing rapidly. You're seeing a

00:52lot more people going into computer science and those related fields. It's so weird because that

00:59doesn't strike me as a Wall Street major. No, no, of course. Greek classics make sense, but computer

01:04science, no. No, no, this, this, I think people need to be able to adapt. So not everyone's an AI

01:10expert, of course, but you need to demonstrate that you can learn at a basic level how to use it.

01:16You have the tools in place and you can show that your job combined with critical thinking

01:22is still valuable to a company. So everything's evolving in real time. I think the plane is being

01:28flown while it's being built at the same time, which is always a good thing. You know, it reminds

01:34me of, we have this excellent story, our banking and tech team that open AI hired a bunch of bankers

01:40from all the bulge bracket banks and is working on software to do the work of analysts and of junior

01:46associates. Do we really understand what this industry is going to look like in 10 years time,

01:51maybe, maybe even five years time, just how much it's going to be changed?

01:55No, I don't think we do. I think those, those efforts are taking place everywhere. This is a

02:02conversation in every boardroom at the executive level. How are we implementing AI? I think we're

02:08in a period where strategically firms are trying to come up with a cogent plan. They have the tools,

02:15as I mentioned, they have the platforms, but what's our plan? What's our long-term plan? I think

02:20training your employees to effectively eliminate themselves is a cynical way of looking at it.

02:27I think it's more, how can we utilize this to be more productive?

02:31How important is, you know, the, the political, the regulatory backdrop? Because one of the things

02:37that we're seeing right now, helping Wall Street bankers get paid is a huge boom in M&A.

02:42I think politically, the backdrop needs to be advantageous for M&A. As, as far as our clients

02:50are concerned, 26 and the backlog looks great for advisory. This year, pay is going to be up,

02:56we're projecting 15%. But next year, it could be up even more if some of the backlog comes to fruition.

03:03So certainly the political backdrop needs to be favorable. We'll see how this plays out.

03:08But as of right now, there is not a concern that business is slowing down on an M&A front.