PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is planning to increase its US securities headcount by 50%, portraying an optimistic view of the financial markets at a time when its rivals are shedding staff to reduce costs.

The accounting, tax and corporate finance group is bucking the trend in investment banking that has led to thousands of redundancies in the past 18 months. It wants to hire 20 more staff in the next year to boost its US market share in areas such as mergers and acquisitions.