HSBC poached one of JPMorgan's top European saleswomen
Last year it was junior investment bankers. This year, it might well be private credit expertise. The Financial Times reported yesterday that private credit hiring is booming. Accordingly, HSBC has made a big private credit hire and is building a new team.
Sources at HSBC say the bank has hired Karine Massolo, the former head of EMEA high yield sales at JPMorgan in London. Massolo is understood to be joining in June as co-head of European credit sales. In this role, she will also be building out HSBC's private credit sales team.
Massolo spent nearly 25 years at JPMorgan and was latterly head of private side sales for the bank. In 2013 the Financial Times highlighted her as a revolutionary female financier for working a four-day week. Massolo was still taking Fridays off last year, when she appeared on a site championing flexible working patterns to extol the advantages of taking the extra day off. “I strive to demystify parental leave; I want to show women out there you can have a great career in investment banking while having a family," said Massolo, who has eleven-year-old twins, plus boys aged five and seven.
At HSBC, Massolo will be running European credit sales with Jeremy Hughes, the former head of European high grade and leverage credit distribution. Hughes will focus on liquid credit products, while Massolo will deal with illiquid credit products and private credit sales. HSBC didn't have a dedicated private credit team until now; it's unclear how many people Massolo plans to hire.
The FT said this week that there's been "desperation" around private credit hiring. Hypothetically, anyone with experience of selling illiquid products to real money, hedge fund or other buy-side clients should be able to move into the space, although most banks prefer actual private credit experience.
HSBC has been shaking up its credit trading business. The bank's global co-head of credit trading is James Deighton, who joined from Lehman Brothers in 2008. Andrew McMillan, the bank's former head of European high yield and leveraged credit sales, will now report to Massolo.
HSBC was lambasted for paying poor bonuses in 2021. The bank compensated by hiking pay for its high earners by 30% on average last year.
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