Some in the financial industry apparently smell opportunity in the latest round of mergers and blood-letting among top banks.

Referring to the Wells Fargo takeover of Wachovia as the WWF and placing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis atop a bucking Merrill Lynch bull are just a couple of the attention-getting devices financial sector recruiting firm RJ & Makay uses in its latest promotional You Tube video.

Branching out from a previous video aimed at Merrill Lynch brokers, the new “Billion Dollar Video” (the company claims assets from advisers brought to them via these viral recruiting tools represent billions of dollars) targets all financial advisers but specifically appeals to those currently at Merrill Lynch and Wachovia.

Those brokers are grappling with with the question of whether to accept a retention/transition package, move to another firm or go independent. RJ & Mackay is clearly hoping they'll opt to walk and chose the firm to advise them on where to go next.

The just over four-minute short could help at least get their attention. It's an equal opportunity stick poker, targeting all the big hits of this financial season. JP Morgan Chase, Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie are all in there along with Lehman, Buffett, Goldman, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Bernanke, Paulson, the government bailout, executive greed, executive kool-aide dispensers and dealing with those pesky gnats, known as recruiters.

Watch here:

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on November 18, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please contact: moves@thomsonreuters.com.

FARMERS GROUP, INC.

Paul Hopkins has been named chairman of the board of Farmers Group, Inc., a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services Group. Hopkins is currently the chief executive officer of the firm and will be replaced by Bob Woudstra, currently the president and chief operating officer for Farmers Group, Inc.

SUNWEST BANK

Chris Walsh has been named executive vice president and chief banking officer of the Tustin, California-based Sunwest Bank.

MORGAN STANLEY

Morgan Stanley has appointed Naresh Naik as an executive director and head of asset management for its Indian real estate unit.

EVERCORE PARTNERS INC

The U.S. merger advisory boutique named Jeff Maurer to lead its newly launched Evercore Wealth Management (EWM). It also appointed Fred Taylor as a senior adviser to EWM. Maurer was previously with Lehman Brothers. Prior to that, both were with U.S. Trust Corp.

MMV FINANCIAL INC

The specialty finance firm appointed April Young as senior vice president and managing director. She will be based in Reston, Virginia, and will join on Dec. 1. Young was earlier with Comerica Bank.

STATE STREET GLOBAL ADVISORS (SSgA)

The investment management arm of State Street Corp promoted Kelly Driscoll to head of SSgA Asia ex Japan. She will be based in Hong Kong.

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

The corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada named Brian Jackson as senior strategist in its Global Emerging Markets Research team. Jackson, who will be based in Hong Kong, was previously with Drake Capital.

SKS MICROFINANCE

The Indian microfinance institution appointed Suresh Gurumani as chief executive. He was formerly with Barclays.

CARLTON PARTNERS LLP

The independent private merchant banking group hired Philip Swatman to its Advisory Board effective immediately. Swatman was previously with N M Rothschild & Sons.

“We’ve hardly felt the financial crisis.”

Now there’s a sentence you don’t expect to hear these days.  It comes from a headhunter for a temp agency in Germany, where apparently the financial sector is like Teflon: although German banks foresee some of the job cuts afflicting its peers  –  RBS among the most recent — there have been relatively few layoffs so far.

In a refreshing twist to a dire employment situation, headhunters in Germany are now scrambling to fill a slew of temporary banking jobs. Problem is, jittery bankers don’t want to switch firms in the middle of a crisis.

But it’s a different ballgame in London, where there the number people chasing jobs has doubled from last year in what one job expert calls “one of the most difficult periods in decades.” To top it off, the city once poised to replace New York as the financial center of the world is being blamed for the greed that sparked the financial crisis.

Back on Wall Street, Citibank is readying to slash another 10,000 jobs worldwide and trim its compensation budget as its shares skid.

On a bright note, some good news for women seeking a corner office in the finance sector: Japan’s Michiko Achilles recently became the first female director of Aozora Bank in what she calls a “new experience” for her male peers.

Is the job situation going to get worse before it gets better? Share your thoughts below.

After a seemingly endless run of job cuts this week, Chrysler’s plan to slash a whopping 25 percent of its white-collar jobs handily goes to show how quickly problems in the finance sector leak into the rest of the economy.

Taken alongside cuts at Yahoo, Xerox and others, could this be the beginning of the so-called “pink slip epidemic”?

“When the dot-com and housing bubbles burst, it was easy to see what types of jobs would disappear. But these days as nervous lenders cower and credit contracts, virtually every industry is likely to be scathed in the widely predicted downturn,” writes Business Week’s Moira Herbst.

The Wall Street Journal paints a similarly dire picture, noting that once-sheltered industries such as healthcare and technology are likely to feel the pinch, culminating in more job cuts and a steeper economic slump than most imagined.

But is that a bright spot? Breaking Views via the New York Times writes that Goldman Sachs’ plans to slash its headcount by 3,300 might not necessarily be a signal of doom. After all, Goldman managed to sidestep much of the credit damage that befell its peers, and its downsizing plans will bring it in line with rival Morgan Stanley. Is it just a simple game of catch up?

Beaten-down brokers are weighing the benefits of staying at Wall Street mammoths Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in a time when even the big guys aren’t so safe anymore. Turns out, well-established firms are still attractive to many brokers even as some decide to break ties altogether to set up their own shop.

“Merrill advisors are looking at the prospect of working for Ken Lewis and Bank of America and fear they will find themselves in a cost-cutting mentality,” says Howard Diamond, CEO of Diamond Consultants, a New Jersey-based financial services recruiter.

But avoiding a job loss might be harder than simply switching firms. The U.N.’s International Labour Organization said on Monday that an estimated 20 million jobs will disappear by the end of next year as the financial crisis swirls.  Think you’re next? Consult the Wall Street Journal’s handy “Five signs you may be on the layoff list” for more clues.

The following are recent job changes within the financial industry, linked where possible to profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

MORGAN STANLEY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
The asset manager appointed Richard Ford as managing director and portfolio manager in its Global Fixed Income Team. Previously he was with PIMCO.

AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS
The asset management company named Eric Chaney, previously with Morgan Stanley, as chief economist, AXA Group. Chaney will join AXA on November 1.

PIONEER INVESTMENTS
The investment management group named William Porter director of U.S. consultant relations, and Scott Krattenmaker and George Lynch vice presidents of institutional sales. Previously, Porter was with State Street Global Advisors and
Krattenmaker with Standish Asset Management, while Lynch joins from Fidelity Family Office Service.

MORTGAGEBROKERS.COM HOLDINGS INC
The mortgage brokerage hired Glen Collier as regional vice president. Collier was earlier with Royal Bank of Canada.

WELLS FARGO INSURANCE SERVICES INC
The insurance brokerage hired Alan Boring as a senior vice president and sales executive in the Southern California region. Boring was previously with Rollins Burdick Hunter and Aon.

PIPER JAFFRAY LTD
The investment bank hired Stuart Rankine as principal, investment banking, and Elizabeth Miller as principal, institutional sales. Rankine was previously with Bear Stearns International Ltd and Miller was with Thomas Weisel Partners

GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES PLC
Central London property company appointed Martin Scicluna as its non-executive chairman.

BENSON ELLIOT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

The private-equity real estate firm appointed Joseph DeLeo as partner and director of Portfolio Management. It named Chris Coulson development director and Dorothee Wintle general counsel. DeLeo joins from Fortress Investment Group and Coulson joins from Lordship Estates.

DEUTSCHE BANK
The bank appointed Maarten van Berckel as managing director, Global Banking, Benelux and Nico Torchetti as head of clearing, Domestic Custody Services (DCS), Asia Pacific. Van Berckel was a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers Benelux. He will be based in Amsterdam. Torchetti, who was previously with Fortis Clearing Japan, will be based in Hong Kong and will join with immediate effect.

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO
Global banking giant JPMorgan Chase named Russian economic reformer Anatoly Chubais to its international advisory board.

FASB
The overseers of the Financial Accounting Standards Board said Marc Siegel has been appointed to the rule-making body. Siegel previously led the accounting research and analysis team at the RiskMetrics Group.

BRYAN CAVE
Law firm Bryan Cave has hired Fabiola Suwanto as a principal in its Shanghai office. Suwanto, previously at Perkins Coie’s office, will work with Bryan Cave’s private client and international trade groups.

COMERICA INC
The U.S. regional bank hired Curtis Farmer as its new executive vice president of Wealth and Institutional Management. Farmer will join Comerica on October 20 from Wachovia Corp.

COMPOSITION CAPITAL PARTNERS
The independent investment manager, based in Amsterdam and Hong Kong, said it has hired Morella Hessels, previously at Northern Trust Global Investments in London, to take charge of investor relations and marketing. The company has also hired Joelin Ma, previously at JPMorgan, as a vice president responsible for monitoring investments and doing due dilligence on new investments in Asia.

EARTHPORT PLC
British money transfer company Earthport Plc said it has appointed Lady Olga Maitland as a non-Executive Director with immediate effect.

BROWN BROTHERS HARRIMAN
The company hired Audrey Childe-Freeman as Vice President and Senior Currency Strategist as part of its Foreign Exchange Currency Strategy team. Previously, Childe-Freeman was a Senior European Economist at CIBC World Markets. She will be based in London.

SONENSHINE PARTNERS
The independent investment bank has hired Grant Tolson, previously an executive director in the financial institutions group at JPMorgan Chase & Co, as a managing director. He will continue to cover financial institutions.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
The hedge fund and alternative investment industry body elected three non-executive directors. Doug Shaw of BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd will be responsible for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Sean Simon, of Ivy Asset Management Corp, will be responsible for the Americas; and Peter Douglas, of GFIA Pte Ltd, will be responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. Shaw, Simon and Douglas will represent their respective regions for a two-year period.