A Morgan Stanley prime broker left to work for Amazon

The prime broking divisions of investment banks should, in theory, be good places to work in 2022. JPMorgan and Citi both cited prime finance as key areas of revenue growth in the fourth quarter, and banks from Barclays to the Bank of Montreal and BNP Paribas are in growth mode. 

However, one senior prime brokerage person has decided to try something different instead. Rochan Raichura, a former executive director in prime brokerage risk management at Morgan Stanley in New York City, has joined Amazon, as the U.S. head of revenue analytics for the advertising sales business. 

Raichura seemingly hasn't worked directly in financial planning and analysis before (he's mostly worked in prime brokerage risk and client coverage, with a brief interlude as an equity researcher), but he studied accounting at the University of Michigan and has an MBA from the University of California. This translated into the role at Amazon, which has some big hiring plans. - It said last September that it wanted to recruit 55,000 people for corporate and technology roles in the next 12 months. 

Amazon isn't the only FAANG firm hiring and Raichura isn't the only person from a bank having their head turned. Meta currently has 640 jobs open in Europe and 3,000 jobs open in North America and is said to be trying to lure entire teams with big sign-ons. Several senior developers from banks joined Meta last year; Leon McCormick, the head of customer experience for Citi's consumer bank, has joined as director of customer experience operations this January. 

Bank employees who leave finance for FAANG in search of a better lifestyle might have a shock. Amazon has its own cultural issues according to Sarah Schnierer, a former senior program manager who reportedly sent an 'anguished' goodbye message on January 3rd, saying that while Amazon can be, "incredibly rewarding," it can also be a place where the "pressure often feels relentless and at times, unnecessary. Employees are burned out."

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Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance. Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram also available (Telegram: @SarahButcher)

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