Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made more than 35 new hires in Australia in the past three months, with rival foreign i-banks providing a happy hunting ground.

At the top of the hiring tree, Merrill has managed to sign Craig Drummond from Goldman Sachs JBWere to lead its Aussie business. Its other recent recruits include the 10 members of the UBS real-estate banking team which it poached in August.

David Holden, recruitment manager, Australia human resources at Merrill Lynch, tells eFinancialCareers that his bank has also taken on employees in areas such as infrastructure, capital markets, equity markets and wealth management in recent months.

And next year will be similar recruitment-wise. “We will continue to take this approach into hiring in 2010 across the Australian business,” adds Holden.

But Merrill isn’t the only foreign firm on the talent trail down under. I-banks are slowly starting to unfreeze their hiring and are particularly keen on deal makers who have established and bankable client relationships, says John Coles, CEO, Executive Group International.

“If rainmakers don’t bring a team with them, they’re going into the market to get execution, distribution and analytical talent. To attract the best people, the overseas banks are putting some heavy money on the table,” he adds.

In an encouraging sign that not all recruitment is focused on revenue-generators, Coles says overseas banks and brokerages are also on the market for research candidates.

And the US giants aren’t the only ones searching for staff. Taiwan’s First Commercial Bank recently set up shop in Brisbane and plans to create another 10 to 15 new jobs

Ryan Webster, senior consultant, finance banking at Robert Walters in Brisbane, says some Asian banks are actively recruiting for support roles and candidates will ideally be Mandarin and English speakers. “They’re bringing in their own relationship bankers, but we expect this to change,” adds Webster.