No outside recruiting

Why would he be lying to you?

Why the hell would you question what a staffer VP is saying... about staffings. Ridiculous

We are in an industry environment where they are downsizing. Is it really all that implausible that generalist shops(who by definition have a dealflow that moves in sync with general market activity) are not going to be hiring new people when they already have too many to begin with? You might see a few (A1s are cheaper than A3s) but not much.

There are a few boutiques and a few specialty areas that are doing well, but I will say no more out of naked selfíshness. They are recruiting for full time NOW and it is not in my interest to introduce additional competition to those specific firms.

as everyone is saying, why would the guy in charge of recruiting be lying about this??

Now to your original question, it's very common for banks to fill all of their FT spots from the SA pool so nothing surprising there. I will say though that banks can under hire and have to fill up additional FT in the spring if the economy / deal flow has picked up from the summer / fall where they decided on headcount (I think we are really due for a recession so perhaps unlikely but who knows)