Somewhere is hiring. Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking is officially looking for staff.

Naturally, it is unwilling to talk numbers. Graeme Summers, head of investment banking at the firm, says hiring will be opportunistic, “depending on the quality and calibre of candidates”.

The numbers involved are unlikely to make any impression on the thousands of people losing their jobs elsewhere: Brewin Dolphin employs just 60 people. Another five are definitely joining in early 2009.

Summers says many of the additional hires are likely to be in equity research. They are also likely to have an ACA, an “entrepreneurial gene” and to be “personable”.

Brewin Dolphin may not be the obvious place for an ex-bulge-bracket investment banker, but Summers points out that the absence of large M&A deals means the mid and large-cap markets are converging.

Working for the firm, which has offices all over the country, also offers an opportunity to escape London: Summers lives in Northumberland and comes to the City once or twice a week. “It’s the best of both worlds,” he boasts.