‘Juniorisation’ is the new thing in investment banking. From M&A teams, to research and now bond desks, experienced and expensive employees are being replaced by hot young things.
Yes, investment banks are losing a lot of experience, and industry bodies are up in arms, but the a new emphasis has been placed on promoting and retaining talented juniors at the expense of more experienced candidates.
Who are these talented traders being fast-tracked to senior roles and making waves at the big banks, and what can you do to emulate their success? Based on a combination of our own research and those featured on other rankings, here’s our pick of who you need to know.
Rani Nazim, fixed income trading, Morgan Stanley
To make managing director at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader at a time when the bank is cutting 25% of its fixed income team takes some talent. Nazim started her career at Morgan Stanley in 2004 trading credit in Hong Kong and later moved across to investment grade bonds and credit default swaps in New York. Nazim is 33.
Andrew Silverman, distressed debt trading, Goldman Sachs
Silverman is a Harvard graduate a reportedly a mathematical genius who has been fast-tracked through the ranks at Goldman Sachs. He spent a he went from associate to VP in less than a year and somehow made it to managing director in 2014, after being recognised as one of the top distressed credit traders out there. He was 28.
Dan Avery, index trading, Goldman Sachs
Avery joined Goldman Sachs as a graduate seven years ago from Oxford University. This year, at the tender age of 28, he was promoted to managing director. This was the youngest person promoted in a class that comprise one-third millennials.
Simon Drake, convertibles trading, J.P. Morgan
Drake has only been trading convertibles at J.P. Morgan since May last year, having previously focused on credit for the nine years he’s been working at the bank. However, Forbes has him down as one of the bond traders to watch. At 29, Drake is still a vice president, but is making waves.
Darren Dixon, Latin America structured credit trading, Goldman Sachs
At 29, Dixon was another young trader to make it to managing director in Goldman Sachs’ 2015 promotion round. Dixon is head of Latin America Structured credit trading. He held this role as a VP and appears to have by-passed director level to go straight to MD. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 2008 and went straight into Goldman – originally focusing on principal funding and investments.
Nila Das, mortgage bond trading, Citi
Das is just 27 and only joined Citi in 2013, but Forbes says that she’s ‘running the bank’s secondary trading in agency collateralized mortgage obligations’. She’s another example of a trader with a lot of responsibility without the job title to match – she’s still a VP at Citi.
Rany Moubarak, rates structuring, Morgan Stanley
Mourbarak only started his career at Morgan Stanley in 2007, initially focused on fixed income structuring in London, before moving to Dubai and then Hong Kong in 2013, where he’s currently head of rates structuring for APAC. He was bumped up to managing director in Morgan Stanley’s latest round of promotions.
Kunal Shah, emerging markets trading, Goldman Sachs
No list of hot young traders is complete without including Kunal Shah. He’s now 32, but he’s already a partner at Goldman Sachs and was made managing director at 27. Shah joined Goldman straight out of Cambridge University and was initially prop trading on its macro desk – something banned by regulators under Dodd-Frank – and Goldman moved him across to its emerging markets desk in 2007, where he’s been since.
Sam Berberian, high yield credit trading, Goldman Sachs
Goldman has a track-record of promoting young traders quickly, and 30-year-old Berberian is another who was promoted to managing director this year. He joined Goldman Sachs straight out of MIT, where he studied Mechanical Engineering and Business Management.
Jason Lin, rates trading, HSBC
Lin’s first role was as an intern at Lehman Brothers just before its collapse in 2008, but he started his full-time career as a G10 options trader at Daiwa Capital Markets in London. He moved to HSBC in 2011, and now describes himself as the primary trader for its G7 Cross-CCY, JPY IRS, JGB trading desk in Hong Kong.
Philipp De Cassan, rates trading, Nomura
Highlighted by Financial News in its 40 under 40 trader rankings, de Cassan has managed to rise through the ranks quickly since joining Nomura in 2011. He’s currently 31, and was hired into the Japanese bank to run its euro swaps desk. He was a VP when he joined, but was promoted to executive director in 2012 and managing director in 2015. He’s now head of Euro Linear trading, a role he took up in August.
Jonathan Birnbaum, credit trading, Morgan Stanley
Birnhaum is 29 and has recently moved away from a pure trading role to take the role of US credit trading COO. He’s still a vice president, but Birnhaum is managing a team of 100 people and made the cut on Forbes’ 30 under 30 trader rankings. He has a bachelors degree from MIT and an executive MBA from Columbia. He started out as a database engineer for the SEC in 2006.
Lear Janiv, CVA trading, Goldman Sachs
Another to make the list because of his relatively rapid rise up the ranks at Goldman Sachs. At just 30, he was promoted to managing director at the U.S bank this year, having worked in its London office since graduating with a degree in Astrophysics from Princeton.
Adam Richmond, head of US credit strategy, Morgan Stanley
Richmond started at Morgan Stanley after completing his MBA at Chicago Booth in 2006. His rise over the past ten years has been comparatively rapid, and he was promoted to managing director in the 2016 class. He also has a degree in Economics from Harvard.
Roland Jeurissen, FX options trading, Citigroup
At 32, Jeurissen is another trader highlighted by Financial News. He’s currently in charge of one of the biggest currency trading books at Citi, which in turn is on of the largest players in FX. He has global responsibility for trading books including euro-dollar, euro-sterling and dollar-swiss.
Jon Deane, commodities trading, J.P. Morgan
Deane has been a managing director at J.P. Morgan since 2013 and is currently head of Asia-Pacific commodities trading in Singapore, having moved across from trading agricultural derivatives in London. Not bad for someone who started out in 2005. He has a bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Sydney.
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