There was a time, and not too long ago, when contingency recruiters were only too happy to talk publicly about the deals they were doing, the firms they were working for, and the salaries and bonuses that were being paid. They would pontificate endlessly on TV, radio and in print about the future of the industry, and hiring and compensation trends. Those days, it seems, are now gone.

And the reason, of course, is that firms are much more sensitive to details of compensation and hiring practices being made public during these politically correct times. One recruiter, who does not wish to be identified, told Here Is The City: 'Only an idiot would be seen talking about things like this now. Loose words lose clients in this market - and it's not as if there are a lot to go around anyway. The last thing any client wants in this market is for a recruiter to be spouting off about larger salaries and guaranteed bonuses. And anyone who does so is either happy to run the risk of losing business, or never had any to lose in the first place'.

The other reason for the deafening silence is competitive advantage. Another recruiter told us: 'If you are making money in this market, why would you spill the beans and let everyone else in on the gravy train ? Competition is fierce right now, and as soon as it becomes known that a firm is hiring, that firm will be inundated with CVs. Better to keep your trap shut and fill the jobs yourself'.

Self-promotion, it seems, has been put on hold. 'It's all about survival now', we were told. 'Better to be operating in the shadows and making money, than out front getting great PR and no business!'.

In the meantime, and staying with recruitment, The Financial Times reports that UBS Investment Bank has filled at least 20 senior positions in its fixed income, currencies and commodities unit in the last few weeks (including ex-Merrill Lynch European FICC head Dimitri Psyllidis), as Group CEO Oswald Grubel starts to deliver on his promise to fix the division.

Finally, it seems that not only are global M&A deals down to multi-year lows, but the number of firms being used on each deal have fallen too. According to Dealogic, the average number of advisers used on European deals has fallen to 4.14 this year, while the number used on US deals has fallen to 3.67. Both figures are at multi-year lows. Not good news for recruiters.

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