Which investment banks have been hiring, and which have been firing in the City of London this year Share on twitter? The short answer is that none have pushed the boat out when it comes to taking people on in 2014, with the possible exception of RBC Capital Markets. According to analysis of the Financial Conduct Authority approved persons register – tracked by M&A boutique IMAS – headcount has largely remained stable throughout the year, albeit less so in Barclays’ investment bank. However, this doesn’t mean that the usual game of musical chairs hasn’t been occurring. We highlight the coming and goings at the top investment banks in London in 2014 Share on twitter.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch: -0.8%
Headline strategy: Lost some stars, but not afraid to unveil some big hires, largely in advisory.
Notable hires: Rebecca Manuel, senior coverage banker for SWFs from RBS; Gordon McKenna, director of leveraged and acquisition finance from HSBC; Thomas Sheehan, global co-head of healthcare investment banking, from Morgan Stanley; David Azema, chairman of its global infrastructure group from Agence des Participations de I’Etat.
Notable departures: David Ross, head of leveraged finance capital markets; Robin Rinkes, head of equity derivatives distribution for Netherlands; John Wraith, head of rates strategy to UBS; Hari Chandra moved to Jefferies as head of power, renewables and infrastructure, Blaise Girard, head of retail investment banking EMEA, to Ernst & Young; Phillippe Drouin, head of consumer investment banking, Europe to UBS.
Barclays’ investment bank: -6.1%
Headline strategy: Targeting cuts at the top of the tree, but also lost MDs in strategically important business areas – namely M&A and equity capital markets.
Notable hires: Marc Chowrimootoo, managing director leveraged finance from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Tim Maunder-Taylor, telecom specialist sales from HSBC where he was head of sector sales for EU equities; Branko Radujko, capital introductions from Mn Services.
Notable departures: John Goodey, managing director in healthcare investment banking moved to Heath Care REIT; Maurice Nadjar Primack, head of CEMEEA equity trading to Rivage Investments where he’s a partner; Iskandar Vanblarcum, head of Northern Europe FX sales, to Thomson Reuters; Andrea Abselmetti, head of EMEA FX sales switched to UBS in a hedge fund FX sales role; Marc Benton, co-head of natural resources Asia Pacific to Deutsche Bank, where he’s head of energy in Europe; Philippe Deneux, senior managing director in M&A, to Mediobanca where he is head of Benelux and France.
Citigroup: -0.1%
Headline strategy: Exodus in equities and ended the year with some trading job cuts, but has been active in commodities recruitment.
Notable hires: Trevor Gill, former head of European equity trading at Knight Capital as a cash equities trader; Giovanni Laureri, head of precious metal sales for EMEA from UBS; Jose Marza, head of cross-commodities structured trading for EMEA from Deutsche Bank; David Haldane, head of equity derivatives in Europe (internal appointment); Anthony Hartley, managing director in healthcare investment banking from UBS.
Notable departures: David Plowman, managing director in European consumer products moved to RBC Capital Markets; Mike Pringle, global head of equities trading moved to Moore Capital Management; Ronan Connolly, head of equities trading for EMEA went to Nomura; Caroline Clarke, global head of specialist sales moved to head of corporate relations at Autonomous; Valentiv Marinov, head of G10 currency strategy.
Credit Suisse: -2.9%
Headline strategy: Focus on fixed income traders has seen it poach from hedge funds, but has lost some big names in 2014, gratingly to Swiss rival UBS.
Notable hires: Alexandre Capez, managing director overseeing algorithmic volatility, joined from Occitan Partners; Massimo Amati, a director in government bond trading, joined from Balyasny Asset Management; Neilan Govender, a senior currency trader from Brevan Howard; Lofti Bensassi, head of emerging markets FX trading from Unicredit; Spyros Tsiloglou, head of investment banking for Greece and Cyprus from Goldman Sachs, Alison Howe, a senior managing director in leveraged finance, joined from UBS.
Notable departures: Alistair Blackman, head of media investment banking to Deutsche Bank; Vincent Thiebaud, head of corporate finance for Switzerland, went to J.P. Morgan; Lofti Bensassi – he joined in February, but left again in November; Ryan Sheftel, global head of fixed income electronic trading joined high frequency trading firm Global Trading Systems; Martin Henrichs, head of healthcare investment banking, headed to UBS to lead its European healthcare team.
Deutsche Bank: -2.4%
Headline strategy: Steadfastly remained committed to fixed income, but more out than in, despite focus on senior operational hires.
Notable hires: Marcus Schenck, finance chief, joins from German energy firm E.ON, Elizabeth Nolan, head of investor services from J.P. Morgan; Alastair Blackman, head of media investment banking from Credit Suisse; Claudio Siniscalco, a principal at HabourVest Partners, joined Deutsche’s asset management arm; Marc Benton, head of energy in Europe, joined from Barclays; Chris Yoshida, managing director and head of rates sales from Morgan Stanley.
Notable departures: Rob Rankin, co-head of corporate and investment banking, is heading Consolidated Press Holdings; James Agnew, chairman of corporate broking, to KPMG; Evan Morris, a managing director in its structuring team, went to Goldman Sachs as head of fixed income Africa sales; Jason Kay, head of base metals trading; Gilles Moec, chief European economist, to Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he’s head of developed European economics; Peter Reilly, a senior researcher, moved to Jefferies to establish an equity research team at the bank.
Goldman Sachs: +1.5%
Headline strategy: A lot of junior hires and some significant recruits from rivals, but senior bankers cashed in their CV prestige chips to move to bigger roles at other banks and hedge funds.
Notable hires: Andrea Casulli, previously a managing director and head of linear rates at UBS, and Garry Naughton, the former head of government bond trading at Deutsche Bank, joined as co-head of European government bond trading; Evan Morris, managing director in FICC EMEA sales and head of Africa sales, joined from Deutsche Bank; Guy Saidenberg, head of foreign exchange trading, moved internally to the role of co-head of commodities trading.
Notable departures: Mike Grimaldi, chief information officer for fixed income, joined Deutsche Bank as CIO for corporate banking and securities; Ian Jensen-Humphreys, a senior equity structurer, shifted to Citigroup to lead its pension fund solutions sales team; Martin Devenish, advisory director, joined Salamanca as head of strategy; Richard Butland, head of private equity activities in the UK, left to start his own private equity firm, Kite Capital.
J.P. Morgan: -0.5%
Headline Strategy: Slow and steady – trickles in at the senior end, with a few departures, but a real focus on hiring at the junior level this year.
Notable hires: Jochen Mehltretter, head of Europe FIG within its DCM division, joined from Morgan Stanley; Filippo Lo Franco, head of media investment banking (internal move, from his previous role of head of European equity research); Jacqueline Taylor, head of middle market sales for Europe, joined from Goldman Sachs; Dorothee Blessing, head of investment banking in Germany, joined from Goldman Sachs.
Notable departures: Andrea Ponti, vice chairman of global healthcare investment banking, left to found healthcare investment firm GHO Capital Partners; Severin Briznay, head of M&A for diversified industrials, moved to lead European M&A at UBS; Andrew Hodgkin, head of corporate broking, left the investment banking industry; Guy Marks, an executive director, joined Canaccord Genuity as a managing director
Morgan Stanley: +0.7%
Headline Strategy: Some big hiring decisions, but still struggled to hold on to big-hitters.
Notable hires: Dana Weinstein joined Morgan Stanley in London from Barclays in the US to head a new business services investment banking division; Lee Guy, chief risk officer for Europe, joined from Barclays; Nigel Felgate is a managing director and head of power and gas trading for Europe, joining from BAML.
Notable departures: Alvise Munari, global head of equity derivatives, left in June; Thomas Sheehan, head of healthcare investment banking, moved to BAML; Angelie Moledina, head of European liquid flow rates, joined Moore Capital Management; Chris Yoshida, head of European rates sales, was hired by Deutsche Bank; Emmanuel Guerouly, chairman of global capital markets in Europe joined European cable group Altice.
Nomura: +0.2%
Headline strategy: Revolving door – some significant hires for both equities and fixed income, but struggled to stem departures.
Notable hires: Ronan Connolly, head of equities trading for EMEA at Citigroup, joined in a similar role; Paddy Power, head of mid-markets rates and credit sales at RBS, joined Nomura in the same position; Ramon Balje and Craig Butterworth both joined as managing directors in its fixed income sales team; Ed Steele, the former head of global equity derivatives at Standard Chartered, joined as a managing director; Simon Harris joined as head of single stock flow trading from Credit Suisse; Todd Sanchez also came from the Swiss bank to become global head of execution services; Mike Ward became head of equity sales for Europe from BAML.
Notable departures: Salim Salam, head of Japanese international equities syndicate left for personal reasons; Jeremy Bennett, chief executive of its EMEA business, left to pursue other opportunities in the charitable sector; David Sahlin, co-head of sales, equities and investor solutions for EMEA and Stephen Daly, head of European equity research sales left in November.
Rothschild: +1.8%
Headline strategy: The usual model of relative stability at the venerable UK institution.
Notable hires: Mark Warham, head of M&A for EMEA at Barclays, joined in July; Robert Blaxland joined its wealth management arm as head of investments; Stephen Taylor, the former global head of equity syndicate at RBS, joined as head of equity syndicate.
Notable departures: Tom Butcher, managing director in infrastructure, joined BAML; Alex Masters, a former MD, joined EY’s advisory arm in January.
Royal Bank of Canada: +7.7%
Headline strategy: New kid on the block – poaching from struggling larger rivals despite the removal of some of the old guard.
Notable hires: Jason Kay, the former head of metals trading at BAML, joined in a similar role in August; Jonathan Dann, a managing director in telecoms research at Barclays, joined with at least three other director level reports from the bank; Rob Beddows, co-founder of HCF International Advisers, joined as a senior advisor in its metals division; Paul Tomasic left Citi to become European head of healthcare at RBC; David Plowman also left Citigroup, to take a role as an MD at RBC’s European consumer products group; Mark Wallis and Richard Chamberlain bother left BAML to join the retail research team at RBC.
Notable departures: Managing director in rates Jean-Baptiste Aussourd left RBC to join Mizuho International; Patrick Baune, co-head of FX sales left to start his own firm, 1859 Capital; Emanuel Brefin left to become a managing director at Specialised Capital Management; Graeme King, co-head of currency trading left in February and has just re-emerged at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
UBS: -1.6%
Headline strategy: Attack of the grey hairs. Senior bankers lured across by the promise of increased ambition in advisory under Andrea Orcel, but this didn’t stop some key figures departing. Credit Suisse a was a target for poaching.
Notable hires: Laurent Bouvier, head of global industrials group, joined from Credit Suisse; Martin Henrichs, managing director and head of healthcare, came from Credit Suisse; Stefanos Papapanagiotou, managing director and head of investment banking (again at CS) joined as head of corporate client solutions for Greece and Cyprus; Paul Maloney, head of UK corporate DCM and derivatives origination came from Morgan Stanley; Severin Brizay, head of EMEA M&A, came from J.P. Morgan.
Notable departures: James Hartop, head of European advisory, is joining Centerview Partners as did Nick Reid, co-head of EMEA investment banking; Anthony Hartley, managing director in healthcare, went to Citigroup; Tim Waddell, chairman of UK coverage and advisory, was hired by BAML as vice chairman of global corporate and investment banking.