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✨ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND MOVES FROM THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS✨
✨ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND MOVES FROM THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS✨
✨LOOK WHO'S MADE THE NEWS WITH THE CITY'S LATEST MOVES✨
These are the latest Global Financial Moves over the past 7 days
Asmah Amin is starting a new position as ESG Solutions - UK, Ireland and Middle East at Moody's Corporation
Bruna Zugliani is starting a new position as Pre-Sales Executive at InvestCloud, Inc.
Chloe Lemarie, CFA is starting a new position as Equity Research European A&D at Jefferies
Elliot Marshall is starting a new position as Trader at North Rock Capital Management, LLC
Siddanth Arya, CPA, CA is starting a new position as Manager, Portfolio Management | Infrastructure Investments at Brookfield Asset Management
Filipe Correia da Silva is starting a new position as Head of Dealing at Forton Partners
Max Wrobel is starting a new position as Securities Research Associate - Sector Specialist (APAC) at Credit Suisse
Timothée Ferrand is starting a new position as Cross Asset Investment Solutions Sales Analyst at Exane Solutions
Wade Emmerson is starting a new position as Director at Conrad Capital PCC Limited
Kevin Marion is starting a new position as Senior - Strategy and transactions at EY-Parthenon
Sean Conroy is being promoted to Associate Director, Healthcare at Edison Group
Anthony Charchafji is starting a new position as Equity Research Analyst at Exane
Alexandre Monoyer is starting a new position as Sovereign Derivatives Trader - Analyst at J.P. Morgan
Daniel Burns is starting a new position as Equity Sales Trader at Virtu Financial
Vincent Vandenbroucke is starting a new position as Prime Sales at Citi
Emiley Jellie is starting a new position as Director, Deal Origination at CartaX at Carta
Shamoli Ravishanker, CFA is starting a new position as Director, International at CPP Investments | Investissements RPC
Wei-Tong Shu is starting a new position as Managing Director at Citi
Jack Haddon is being promoted to Head of Research - APAC at TowerXchange
Cinney Chenye Zhang, CFA is starting a new position as Portfolio Manager at AXA Investment Managers
Xavier Favre is starting a new position as Investment Analyst at SUSI Partners
Parasuram (Ram) Anand is starting a new position as Vice President at Citi
Nicolas Roc is being promoted to Global COO is Securities Lending at BlackRock
Duncan Higgins is starting an additional position as Founder at Sustainable Trading
Thomas METIER is starting as Head of Business Operations at Euronext Securities
Shubham Malpani is starting a new position as Director of Research at Bayes Finance and Banking Society
Antonio Gurrea is starting a new position as Investment Analyst at CIFC Asset Management
Christian Bauers is starting a new position as Global Equity Program Sales/Trader at HSBC
Steven Cheshire is starting a new position as Associate Director - Investment Companies Market Making at Berenberg
Maria BEKKARE is starting a new position as Analyst, Oil Derivatives Sales at Macquarie Group
Jack Clayton is starting a new position as Equity Trader at Citi
These are the latest moves in the City over the past 7 days and this is the ONLY place to receive all of the latest market moves. If you would like to see your name, or your company's new hires featured on here, get in contact and let us know the details.
✨THE TOP NEWS STORIES✨
These are the latest Global Financial News stories within the past month
✨MORGAN STANLEY LEAD THE WAY FOR SALES AND TRADING IN THE AMERICAS✨
Equity sales teams may have adapted to remote work — but there’s still no beating in-person interactions for the top firms and their buy-side clients.
“The last year reinforced the deep value in face-to-face interaction,” said Nick Savone, global head of institutional equities sales at Morgan Stanley. “As 2021 progressed and many clients returned to their offices, we found that client interest to interact in person was very high. Oftentimes, especially in early days of 2021, we were told that we were the first bank investors saw in person during the pandemic.”
Morgan Stanley is once again No. 1 in Institutional Investor’s 2021 All-America Sales Team, an annual ranking of the Wall Street firms with the best sales professionals. The bank extended its reign in specialist sales for a fifth straight year, while also defending its newly won title in the generalist sales category.
As part of the wider All-America Research Team survey — where Morgan Stanley took third overall and first in the Hedge Fund Cut.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. repeated its second-place finish in generalist sales, followed by BofA Securities in third. Goldman Sachs improved on last year’s sixth place finish to take fourth. UBS fell one spot to round out the top five.
In the specialist division, second place went to UBS, followed by BofA Securities in third. Jeffries placed fourth, while Evercore ISI jumped from tenth place in 2020 to No. 5 this year.
Morgan Stanley topped all of these attributes but one. Second-place finisher JPMorgan was recognized for its team’s service and responsiveness.
Morgan Stanley also placed first for overall trading and execution in the newly returned All-America Trading Team. Back for the first time since 2018, the ranking is based on the views of buy-side traders and other investment professionals who rated their top trading and execution teams across four main categories: electronic, high-touch sales, portfolio/program, and Delta One/ETF.
JPMorgan placed second, followed by BofA Securities in third. Goldman Sachs and UBS placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
✨CREDIT SUISSE PLANS ON TRIMMING INVESTMENT BANK IN MAJOR SHAKE UP✨
It is part of a restructuring plan intended to draw a line under a tumultuous year in which it was rocked by the Archegos Capital Management and Greensill scandals.
The Zurich-based bank is exiting most of its prime services business after the implosion of Archegos and shifting about $3 billion of capital from the investment bank to wealth management, according to a CS statement on Thursday. The bank is also re-organizing into four divisions and said that it will create a single wealth management unit.
According to the Bloomberg financial news agency, chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio has spent the past six months conducting a root-and-branch review of Credit Suisse after disastrous risk lapses wiped out billions in profit, plunged the bank into crisis and led to an overhaul of top management. By shrinking the investment bank and shifting more resources to wealth management he’s seeking to move away from more risky activities in favour of more stable returns.
The bank updated several targets and created several new ones. The bank is targeting a return on tangible equity - a key metric of profitability - of greater than 10% by 2024, compared with an earlier medium target of 10% to 12%. It’s aiming to distribute 25% of profit in 2022, after suspending its share buyback earlier this year.
Since taking over in April, Horta-Osorio has focused on rebuilding the ranks of the risk division, after failures led to the departure of former risk and compliance head Lara Warner.
“Risk management will be at the core of our actions, helping to foster a culture that reinforces the importance of accountability and responsibility,” Horta-Osorio said in the statement.
✨JEFFERIES HAVE HIRED A JP MORGAN SENIOR BANKER, WHILST DOUBLING THE SIZE OF THEIR FIG TEAM✨
Jefferies Financial Group has recruited senior bankers from rivals including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Barclays PLC to strengthen its investment banking unit.
Matthias Kristol will join Jefferies as global head of asset and wealth management investment banking, while Aaron Clayton Bruker will join the bank as head of sidecars and third-party capital. Both are based in New York, confirmed by a Jefferies spokesperson.
Kristol previously worked at JP Morgan, where he led the bank’s asset management, financial technology, and wealth management teams. Bruker was head of private capital for the financial institutions group (FIG) at Barclays.
Jefferies has made a spate of senior hires across its FIG team in 2021, aiming to take advantage of record-breaking levels of mergers and acquisitions here by companies positioning themselves for the post-pandemic world.
The hires included Alejandro Przygoda, who was named global head of FIG, and Armando Rubio-Alvarez, who was appointed head of the FIG franchise for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Both joined Jefferies after holding senior roles at Credit Suisse Group.
Since the summer, Jefferies has doubled headcount at its FIG franchise to more than 70 bankers globally. Also joining Jefferies are Andres Espinos as a vice president based in Madrid, and Kush Patel as an associate in New York, the memo added. Espinos’ most recent role was at Banco de Sabadell.
✨BNP PARIBAS IS SHAKING UP EUROPEAN TRADING✨
The stock-trading game in Europe is changing, and it’s not your usual players gaining ground.
BNP Paribas SA is following Barclays Plc of the U.K. in winning a more diverse share of this market, which is balancing out their traditional strengths. For Barclays, that was a focus on bond trading; at BNP, it was equity derivatives.
The trouble with derivatives is the business can be volatile and risky. That was a big sore thumb for the French bank last year when the onset of the Covid crisis led to big first-quarter losses on the complex equity-linked products that are one of its specialties. Its revenue had recovered by the third quarter of 2020, and on Friday it reported an 80% jump in equities-trading revenue for this year's third quarter.
In fact, the bank’s equities revenue has been stronger all this year. Next year could be better still.
BNP used to report equity-trading revenue of about 2 billion euros per year ($2.3 billion) — although last year that was cut to 1.2 billion euros because of the structured-product losses. For 2021, the bank is on course to report 2.8 billion to 3 billion euros, which would be 40% to 50% higher than that historic run rate.
There are a couple of things going on. One big change is the consolidation of the Exane brokerage business, which it only half-owned for the past 17 years. It now owns the unit outright.
At the same time, BNP is expanding its hedge-fund services by both growing in a busy market and taking over Deutsche Bank AG’s prime brokerage. It is due to move all the German bank’s clients over to its own books by the end of the year, so the full gains from this won’t be visible until 2022.
At the very least, less reliance on derivatives should protect BNP from the wild swings and losses those trades can produce.
With BNP and Barclays both expanding, others must be losing out. Deutsche Bank decided to quit equities trading in its last big strategy change in 2019 — hence the sale of its prime brokerage business to BNP.
Credit Suisse Group AG is the other bank everyone is watching after its $5.5 billion loss this year on trades with Bill Hwang’s hedge-fund-like family office Archegos. It has cut back its exposure to hedge funds sharply — in fact by about half.
Investors will discover just how much ground Credit Suisse has lost when it reports third quarter numbers on Nov. 4. This is a sticky problem for the Swiss bank, which ought to be following the path of local rival UBS: focusing more on equities because of the closer links to private banking and wealth management.
✨BARCLAYS CEO RESIGNS DUE TO EPSTEIN RELATIONSHIP✨
Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is to step down following a probe by British regulators into his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, ending a controversial six year reign at the lender marked by his successful backing of its investment bank against an activist investor.
Staley will be replaced as CEO by the bank's head of global markets C.S. Venkatakrishnan, who on Monday pledged to continue his predecessor's strategy.
Barclays said it was made aware on Friday evening of the preliminary conclusions from the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority's investigation into Staley's characterisation to Barclays of his relationship with Epstein and the subsequent description of that relationship in Barclays' response to the regulator.
"In view of those conclusions, and Mr Staley's intention to contest them, the Board and Mr Staley have agreed that he will step down from his role as Group Chief Executive and as a director of Barclays," the bank said.
"It should be noted that the investigation makes no findings that Mr Staley saw, or was aware of, any of Mr Epstein's alleged crimes, which was the central question underpinning Barclays' support for Mr Staley following the arrest of Mr Epstein in the summer of 2019."
Barclays shares fell 2% following the announcement.
Barclays said last year that Britain's financial regulators were probing links between Staley and Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking offences. Staley has previously said his relationship with Epstein, which he now regrets, ended in late 2015.
The FCA and PRA said in a statement they could not comment further on the Epstein investigation.
Staley told staff in an internal memo seen by Reuters that he did not want his 'personal response' to the investigations to be a distraction.
"Although I will not be with you for the next chapter of Barclays' story, know that I will be cheering your success from the sidelines," he said.
In a separate internal memo also seen by Reuters, Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, told staff the strategy put in place by Staley at Barclays was the "right one", although he added that he would announce changes to the organisation of the corporate and investment bank in the coming days.
UK regulators launched their investigations into links between Staley and Epstein after JPMorgan (JPM.N) provided them with emails the two exchanged when Staley was the head of JPMorgan’s private bank, the Financial Times reported last year.
Britain's financial regulators and Barclays fined Staley a combined 1.1 million pounds ($1.50 million) in 2018 after he tried to identify a whistleblower who sent letters criticising a Barclays employee.
✨MACQUARIE BANK LOSES CO-HEAD OF INVESTMENT BANK✨
The co-head of Macquarie’s investment bank is stepping down after 22 years with the Australian firm.
London-based Daniel Wong has quit the investment bank effective immediately, the firm said in a statement accompanying its half-year results to 30 September.
The bank said that Wong is leaving to “pursue opportunities outside Macquarie”. Wong said in a LinkedIn post that he would announce his new job in “due course”.
Wong has worked at the Australian investment bank his entire career, having joined as an analyst in 1999. He became co-head of Macquarie Capital in 2019, having held numerous senior roles at the bank including leading its European operation.
“I have worked on too many exciting transactions to mention and led extraordinary businesses in wonderful cities around the world. I am also extremely proud to have been part of Macquarie’s transformation into the global leader in delivering climate solutions and sustainable infrastructure that it is today,” Wong said in a post on LinkedIn announcing his departure.
Michael Silverton, who is based in New York and currently co-head of Macquarie Capital, becomes group head of the unit, the firm said in a statement.
Macquarie Capital posted revenues of A$1.2bn during the half-year to 30 September, an increase of 110% on the same period last year.
Investment banks globally have capitalised on a boom in dealmaking that has hauled in a record $93bn in fees during the first nine months of 2021.
✨UBS TO INCREASE FIXED SALARIES TO KEEP HOLD OF THEIR SENIOR STAFF - IT'S 2009 ALL OVER AGAIN!✨
UBS Group AG intends to increase the fixed salaries of some of its senior staff by as much as 20% and to cut bonuses to keep employees from being poached by other banks.
The Swiss bank launched a review as some of its teams and top bankers are leaving to join rivals such as Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Bär Gruppe AG. UBS found that there are differences in base pay among employees within the same position. Line managers have been using variable compensation to make up for the pay inequities until now, sources said in the report.
A spokesman for UBS told Bloomberg that the bank regularly evaluates its total compensation structure and certain salary levels are being adjusted selectively for the bank to maintain its competitiveness.
Bonuses for 2020 are expected to be allocated in November. These will be given to outperforming employees moving forward.
UBS' new compensation structure will be implemented retroactively starting Jan. 1, 2020, the people said.
✨HSBC HIRES NEW HEAD FOR U.K. INVESTMENT BANKING BUSINESS✨
HSBC has appointed Sarah Wiggins as vice chair, global banking in London.
Wiggins will join the bank at the end of the first quarter of 2022 from law firm Linklaters and will be responsible for helping to build HSBC's investment banking business in its home market of Britain, the memo said.
The move is the latest of a string of senior appointments by the bank's co-head of Global Banking and Markets Greg Guyett, as he tries to improve HSBC's ties to corporate bosses and its investment banking performance.
HSBC appointed senior bankers Philip Lee and Vikas Seth as vice chairs of global banking last autumn, based in Singapore and London respectively.
The British bank posted strong third quarter results on Monday, but has seen its investment bank income fall this year due to its bias towards debt markets, at a time when rivals' equities and merger-focused businesses have thrived.
✨JP MORGAN TO CLOSE SMALL AND MID CAP TRADING IN LONDON✨
JP Morgan is the latest bulge bracket bank to disband its dedicated small and mid-cap trading desk in London.
The restructure of the equities business occurred in recent months and has seen staff and coverage of companies move to larger pitches organised by sector or to colleagues working in offices in Europe, with the US bank’s Paris office seeing an influx of staff, the person added.
Historically these desks used to generate significant commissions, the source said, but as banks have become more risk averse they have pulled back from using their balance sheet to facilitate trading in smaller cap stocks in the secondary market for clients.
The introduction of new regulations by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in the wake of a no-deal Brexit for financial services, such as the Stock Trading Obligation (STO), has meant that the coverage and trading of stocks has moved to the continent as clients being serviced in Europe now need to be serviced by staff based in the region. Shares traded in euros must also be traded on European exchanges. Following Brexit, Amsterdam overtook London as Europe’s largest share trading hub, according to data from the Cboe exchange.
ESMA has been aggressive in its application of these new trading rules and has been in constant contact with the larger banks to ensure that they were adhering to the new regulations, the source said.
“MiFID II started this trend”, according to one fund manager who spoke on condition of anonymity, “falling commissions and lower research spend has made the coverage of smaller companies less economical,” they added.
JP Morgan isn’t alone in making such a move towards sectorised stock coverage. Peers Citi and Bank of America also disbanded committed small and mid-cap execution desks in London in recent years. UK small cap coverage at Bank of America is now being run out of its Paris office, the source said.
The general feel is that these banks have surrendered the UK smaller cap business to the specialist firms, the source said, with brokers such as Peel Hunt, Numis, Panmure Gordon, Investec and Liberum benefitting. Numis has seen a small increase in market share this year according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Not all banks have retreated from dedicated smaller cap coverage, as both Credit Suisse and Jefferies still have trading desks covering these stocks in London.
JP Morgan had established a strong presence in the UK market following the acquisition of leading UK investment bank and stockbroker Cazenove, which was a corporate broker to a large number of listed UK companies.
✨DEUTSCHE BANK LOOKING TO INCREASE THEIR FOCUS ON NEW HIRES✨
Deutsche Bank AG Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke said the investment bank is pressing ahead with hiring in areas including mergers and acquisitions and rates in the U.S. to grow its business.
The firm has also been selectively hiring for government bond trading in Europe as well as in technology and healthcare dealmaking, Von Moltke said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.
Deutsche Bank is considering rebuilding parts of its investment bank which were cut during a large restructuring by Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing in 2018. The investment bank is particularly reliant on the fixed-income trading business, which saw a slowdown in the third quarter as market volatility returned to more usual levels. Complicating the lender’s hiring plans is one of the most competitive markets for bankers in recent years as dealmaking booms.
“It’s a war for talent as it has been in other cycles before,” Von Moltke said in a separate Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re finding that we’re competitive in that war for talent. We aim to pay competitively.”
U.S. firms and rivals such as Barclays Plc have indicated that they expect higher bonuses this year amid the boom. That’s the same at the German lender, where expectations within the investment bank are high and top management is aware they’ll need to pay to keep up the momentum, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
✨BLACKSTONE'S CO-HEAD OF HEDGE FUND UNIT TO LEAVE THE FIRM✨
John McCormick, the co-head of Blackstone Group's $81 billion hedge fund unit, plans to leave the private equity firm in the coming months, a company representative said on Monday.
As the world's biggest hedge fund investor, Blackstone backs new hedge funds, invests alongside hedge funds, buys majority stakes in them and offers internally run hedge funds to clients like pension funds and foreign governments.
The unit, known as BAAM, is on track to post its best-ever year, with revenues and earnings topping last year's records and assets at a record high.
McCormick, 53, told the firm of his plans to leave last week and will stay on for a time to ensure a smooth transition, two sources familiar with the move said.
Since McCormick took the helm of BAAM in January 2018 all businesses have expanded.
He replaced Tom Hill, who spent decades growing Blackstone into the world's most powerful hedge fund investor. The fund-of-funds portfolio, BAAM Principal Solutions, gained 13.3% over the last 12 months, outpacing the hedge fund industry benchmark.
In January Blackstone hired Joe Dowling, a former endowment chief at Brown University, as the group's co-head. He will now run the hedge fund unit alone, one of the sources said.
McCormick, who has worked at Blackstone for nearly 17 years, is the latest senior executive to announce plans to leave the storied private equity firm's hedge fund unit.
In the last months Gideon Berger, who led its funds-of-funds business; Brett Condron, who was head of individual investor solutions; and Scott Soussa, who headed the hedge fund and private equity stakes business, have departed.
A number of other executives have also left, creating some unease among investors. Some investors have asked for Blackstone to hand over organization charts so they can keep track of who has left, one of the sources said.
A trained lawyer, McCormick was widely respected by investors and colleagues for his cerebral, calm and considered approach. He launched the firm's data-science initiative and was a tireless backer of bringing hedge funds to the masses through mutual fund structures.
Dowling came to Blackstone as an outsider and leaned on his deep connections with stock-oriented fund managers. He has quickened the pace of sourcing managers and has shifted investments more to equity managers while curbing the exposure to credit managers, the sources said.
He has also helped launch Blackstone Horizon, a new investment platform run by Scott Bommer, which aims to deliver big returns by investing with fund managers targeting fast-growing public and private companies.
✨UBS AGREES TO SELL OFF THEIR SPANISH PRIVATE BANK & WEALTH MANAGEMENT ARM✨
UBS Group AG has struck an agreement to sell its wealth-management business in Spain to Madrid-based Singular Bank SAU, a private bank and wealth manager.
Switzerland's biggest bank said Monday that the deal signed through its subsidiary UBS Europe SE includes the transfer of employees, client relationships, products and services of its Spanish wealth management business to Singular Bank.
"Our domestic wealth management business in Spain has developed well and has been sustainably profitable over the past few years. After a thorough review and analysis over the course of this year, we came to the conclusion that our Spanish domestic wealth management business is better positioned for future growth with a focused wealth manager based in Spain," said Christl Novakovic, chief executive of UBS Europe SE and head of European wealth management at UBS.
UBS and Singular Bank expect to complete the deal in the third quarter of 2022.
✨UBS HIRES A NUMBER OF ANALYSTS FOR THEIR EQUITIES BUSINESS✨
UBS has hired a J.P. Morgan’s head of research for South Africa as its new Australian banks analyst, replacing Jonathan Mott who jumped ship to Barrenjoey.
John Storey will take over UBS’s sell-side research coverage for banks in Australia. He has 14 years of experience at JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Johannesburg and London.
UBS also added an equity strategist for Australia.
The Swiss bank has hired Richard Schellbach, most recently worked with Citi in London in a sell-side research role, and has 20 years’ experience.
There are also two new faces in UBS Australia’s global markets business, working in equities sales. Tom Tepaa is moving from Goldman Sachs’ Singapore office to join UBS Australia’s block desk. Before Goldman Sachs, Tepaa worked for Macquarie Group in Philippines and Australia.
Finally, David Nicholson is joining UBS’s Australian equity sales team. He is moving from Boston where he worked at Citi in institutional equity sales.
Earlier this week, UBS hired BlackRock’s Alison Telfer as its country head for asset management for Australia and New Zealand.
✨GOLDMAN SACHS HIRES A NEW HEAD OF ESG REAL ESTATE✨
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset management arm has hired Marit van Rheenen from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. in a newly created role leading the firm’s ESG efforts for real estate in Europe and Asia.
Van Rheenen joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management last month in its London office, a spokesman for the firm confirmed.
Her appointment is the latest sign of the growing demand among financial firms for executives with expertise in helping businesses ensure they are run in a sustainable fashion and are compliant with regulation. Asset managers are currently facing greater regulatory scrutiny for how they label and promote products backed by environmental, social and governance criteria, while also trying to tap into growing investor demand for these strategies.
“Sustainability is an increasingly central consideration in all our real estate investing,” Tavis Cannell, co-head of EMEA Real Estate at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a statement announcing the hire.
Prior to joining Goldman, van Rheenen was a director in JLL’s London office where she advised on the development and implementation of the property broker’s ESG strategy. Prior to that, she worked at European real estate firm EDGE Technologies where she was also responsible for managing a Dutch office portfolio that EDGE owned in a joint venture with Goldman.
✨THE ECB IS PUSHING EUROPEAN LENDERS TO HIRE MORE AFTER THE BREXIT EFFECT LEAVES THEM WANTING MORE✨
The European Central Bank is pushing lenders to add hundreds of extra employees and billions of additional capital to their operations in continental Europe after Brexit failed to spark a big shift, the Financial Times reported.
Relatively few banking jobs have left the City of London since Brexit, confounding predictions that tens of thousands would relocate. But the ECB is upping its demands that lenders shift more resources away from London, executives, lawyers and supervisors told the FT.
The pressure affects banks from across the world that have used London as their hub to serve clients in the EU. The push is partly linked to the end of a reprieve granted during the pandemic. The ECB is also taking a sterner line than expected on location of risk managers overseeing EU trades and how much capital EU operations should have.
An executive said his bank would have to more hundreds more people than expected because of a tough ECB line on managing risk of EU trades from the UK.
"We're ramping up our European model enormously," the executive told the FT. The demands risk aggravating tensions between the ECB and the Bank of England which is concerned banks are under pressure to relocate to poach business from London rather than to support financial stability.
✨BARCLAYS BANKERS EXPECTING HUGE BONUS BONANZA AS BANK BOOSTED BY RECORD PROFITS✨
Barclays landed record profits of £6.9 billion in the last nine months, setting the stage for a bumper round of bonus payments to top bankers in London and New York.
Those results are a vindication of the strategy pursued by CEO Jes Staley, who fought to keep the bank’s investment banking arm in the face of scepticism from some in the City and outright protests from some investors.
Barclays has been involved in many of the biggest takeover deals this year, also raising money for clients who needed cash to survive in many cases.
Staley told the Standard: “We have been questioned for the last six years as to whether this strategy would work, can we manage the investment bank, can we compete with the big Wall Street banks. This is a pretty strong answer.”
Questions about Staley’s own future persist. Today he suggested his tenure could last longer than most expect, or for at least another two years.
“We are taking the Jamie Dimon approach. Every year Jamie (the boss of JP Morgan) says, ‘another five years’, I say another two years.”
Finance director Tushar Morzaria interjected: “It’s a rolling two years.”
The profits are the highest Barclays has ever recorded by this point of the year – nine months in. That is bound to lead to strong bonuses to investment bankers, and in turn criticism of the bank.
Staley said: “The financial strength of the bank has allowed us to be an important part of the economic recovery from the pandemic. We gave millions to charity, we waived overdraft interest payments and we provided credit. We have been an agent of the recovery.”
Last week Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan reported booming profits from deal making. Barclays insists it is holding its own, or indeed grabbing market share.
Today’s figures beat City expectations. The shares have doubled in the last year, opening today at 196p.
From July to September, Barclays made profit of £2 billion, twice what it made in the same period a year ago. It makes nearly half of its income in the US, the last UK bank to have a serious Wall Street presence.
Ian Gordon at Investec said the results are “another monster beat”, of City forecasts. The bank is setting aside less money to deal with losses on loans, a sign of economic recovery.
Barclays, under pressure to cut branches like all other high street players, said staff in those branches are among “the heroes” of the crisis.
Staley added: “While the investment bank performance continues to be an area of strength we are also seeing evidence of a consumer recovery and the early signs of a more favourable rate environment.”
✨LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCES NEW HEAD OF CASH EQUITIES✨
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announces that Ivan Gilmore will become head of cash equities for LCH Ltd and LCH SA.
Gilmore will be responsible for the development and management of both businesses, overseeing the clearing of cash equities products and providing strategic vision and leadership to the services.
In his new role, Ivan will report to Bruce Kellaway global head of securities and collateral at LCH and UnaVista CEO, as well as Frank Soussan, global head of CDSClear and head of SA EquityClear and CommodityClear.
Gilmore has worked in a number of roles at LSEG since 2017, including across London Stock Exchange securities trading businesses in equities, ETPs, fixed income and alternatives, and he has led product development and client relationship management across business lines.
Before this, he held a number of senior roles within the industry including head of exchange-traded fund client strategy and distribution for EMEA at KCG Holdings from 2016 to 2017, and head of trading for equities, futures, foreign exchange and commodities at D.E Shaw and Co. London from 2007 to 2015.
Prior to this, Gilmore spent seven years at Goldman Sachs, beginning as an equity trader and departing as co-head of segregated trading group. He also dedicated three years as an equity trader at ING Barings.
Commenting on the appointment, Isabelle Girolami, CEO LCH Ltd says: “[Ivan] brings with him over 20 years of experience in equities within the industry and at LSEG. This is an exciting time for the group and I look forward to working with him to develop EquityClear further into new markets and in continuing to grow our customer base.”
Gilmore adds: “I am looking forward to working closely with LCH clients to continue to best serve their current and future needs. This in turn will help to develop and grow EquityClear for all our stakeholders over the coming months and years. I look forward to ensuring LCH continues to innovate and lead in this market.”
✨GOLDMAN SACHS APPROVED TO OFFICIALLY OPERATE IN CHINA✨
US investment bank Goldman Sachs has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to take full ownership of its securities joint venture in China, Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities Co (GSGH), the company said on Sunday.
Following the acquisition, Goldman Sachs will operate the second wholly foreign-owned brokerage in China. In August, another US investment bank JPMorgan was approved by the CSRC to become the first wholly foreign-owned brokerage in China. The developments highlighted growing foreign interests in China's capital market and the country's efforts to further open up the domestic market.
Attaining full ownership of GSGH will enable the company's long-term growth and success in the Chinese market under one wholly-owned entity, according to a statement issued by Goldman Sachs on Sunday.
The statement said that the migration of the onshore business units from Beijing Gao Hua Securities to GSGH is underway, which will be renamed Goldman Sachs (China) Securities Co once completed.
In March 2020, Goldman Sachs announced that it has received approval from the CSRC to increase its ownership of GSGH from 33% to 51%. Nine months later, the firm confirmed that it would acquire a 100 percent interest in its Chinese joint venture.
business. Beyond this, it does not have strict investment application criteria.
✨CREDIT SUISSE HIRE HEAD OF EVENT DRIVEN TEAM FROM CITI✨
Credit Suisse has strengthened its equities team in London with the hire of Susan Stryker Marinello from Citi.
Stryker Marinello was employed as a director and head of event driven content at Citi, and re-joins former colleagues Andy Martin and Simon Scott , both risk arbitrage traders, who left the investment bank for Credit Suisse in March 2019.
“Susan is an event driven and risk arb specialist with more than 15 years’ experience across the buy-side and sell-side,’’ bringing an “increased level of expertise to assist both hedge funds and long only clients,’’ a spokesperson said.
Event driven strategies seek to profit from corporate events, including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and spin-offs. Event driven desks in London haven been adding headcount recently amidst a boom in deal activity.
Citi bolstered its event driven offering in London in recent months with the hires of Mark Brodie and David “Curly” Lackenby.
Credit Suisse has endured a torrid year following losses of more than $5.5 billion caused by the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in March. Last week its shareholders approved the appointment of two new risk-focused members of its board of directors.
Law firm Paul Weiss, Rifkind and Warton published a damning report in July that found that the Swiss bank’s internal risk management procedures had continuously failed regarding Archegos.
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