We have reason to believe that jobs at J.P. Morgan have more sway than a lot of investment banks. Why? For a start, some traders are happy to take demotions for the privilege of working at the bank. Then there’s the fact that a mid-ranking job at J.P. Morgan can translate into a management job elsewhere.
It has come to our attention that Tristan Cheesman, who was a vice president in J.P. Morgan’s securitised products group syndicate, has re-emerged at Bank of America Merrill Lynch – as head of EMEA structured finance syndicate.
This seems like a step up to say the least, and could be reflective of J.P. Morgan’s continued dominance in the investment banking league tables. Or perhaps it’s more reflective of the stagnation in the mid-ranks of investment banks – making the step up from VP and director to MD is harder than ever. There’s a frustrated contingent of mid-ranking investment bankers stuck in career stasis.
Cheesman has only been working in banking since 2008, however, when he joined Dresdner Kleinwort’s credit syndicate team. He joined J.P. Morgan in September 2012.
Another possible explanation is the heating up job market in structured products. Although a lot of the recruitment has been restricted to the junior level, structured products and asset backed securities have been among the surprisingly hot hiring areas of the last 12 months.