Surprisingly, perhaps, given the M&A rebound still hasn’t happened, banks are once again said to be enthusiastic about hiring experienced analysts and associates.

As we reported yesterday, Deutsche is expected to focus on junior corporate finance hires next year. Recruiters report similar keenness from other quarters.

“We’re very busy,” says Logan Naidu at recruitment firm The Cornell Partnership. “At the start of this year, there was next to zero demand for experienced analysts and associates in London. Now banks are looking again- in moderation.”

James Heath at Greenwich Partners confirms a, “significant increase,” in demand for analysts and associates, while Julia Tustian at Shepherd Little says there’s “certainly a lot more interest.”

In the face of such eagerness, recruiters confess a degree of uncertainty about where all the new recruits will come from.

“Many banks are going back to the market for the first time in a year or two, and they expect all the guys they’ve fired to be out there still, but a lot of people have left the industry,” says one.

“People have returned to their home countries, gone into corporates, or gone off to do an MBA,” agrees Tustian. “Many junior people didn’t get paid – they were doing 100 hour weeks for a base salary and decided it wasn’t worth it.”

One former associate who’s gone into a start-up says he has zero interest in going back: “My responsibilities here are far more than what I might be entrusted with in banking, and I have a sizeable equity stake in the company.”

Naidu says the most desirable people at analyst and associate level are those with a few years’ experience in banking. The least desirable are MBAs with less than a year’s experience before being let go.

Fortunately, the Big Four are always ready with a pool of ACA candidates. Heath says banks are already open to receiving applications from the corporate finance divisions of top accounting firms.