Ex-Credit Suisse traders: "I've had 12 interviews, three job offers"
Credit Suisse is dumping traders with a ferocity last seen when UBS dumped swathes of its own fixed income people in 2015. But for many of those who are let go, it's becoming apparent that it doesn't necessarily matter: rival firms are only too pleased to hire them.
"There are plenty of jobs around," says one salesperson recently released from Credit Suisse's credit trading team. "It's pretty fantastic. I had over 12 interviews the same week I left and I got three offers already."
Given that this junior was one of the highest performing in his group, it might be presumed that he was an exception. Not at all. Other ex-CS people tell us they're finding suitors similarly plentiful. "The hiring market is much better than I thought," says one senior credit trader. "I received a couple of offers really quickly and so far I've only tried banks and not funds."
Members of the Credit Suisse high yield team that was leaking talent last week appear particularly desirable. "There's very strong demand on the Street for high yield talent," says one insider. "Credit Suisse had a good team and it will be very hard now for them to hire anyone back again."
As we reported, various members of Credit Suisse's CDS team resigned last week, seemingly for Deutsche Bank, where they can work alongside ex-CS head of credit Jonathan Moore. But if Deutsche Bank doesn't appeal, there's always BNP Paribas. Josh Harman, another Credit Suisse salesperson, has gone to BNP in New York as head of high yield sales. Harman is joining Markus Gebhard, the bank's former head of high yield trading, who left in September and is also at the French bank; Gebhard is allegedly building a team of CDS traders there.
Many at Credit Suisse are perplexed at the calibre of some of the people who've been let go from the credit group. The first round of job cuts in the credit business included Vivek Nahar, the head of high yield sales and one of the highest earning salespeople in London. Last week, the bank cut Bjoern Bluemke, the head of German sales, who was only hired from JPMorgan four months ago. The credit business is being migrated to CS First Boston, and the supposition is that excellent salespeople are simply not going to be needed at the new business (or that senior staff are cutting everyone but themselves).
However, it's not only Credit Suisse's ex-credit people that are getting bids in the market. Gregory Quilici, head of West Coast investment banking for Credit Suisse recently turned up in William Blair's San Francisco office. Ishan Kaul, a European telecoms banker, just arrived at Santander.
While Credit Suisse would undoubtedly quite like for many of its people to disappear of their own accords so that it can avoid paying severance, the bank can also be aggressive at bidding people back when it really wants them to stay. Last week, for example, we understand that one trader was nearly persuaded to join JPMorgan. He allegedly stayed at CS after it became apparent that the bank might be in a position to allocate quite generous compensation to him now that so many of its top earners have been dumped before bonuses are paid...
Photo by Maxim Tajer on Unsplash
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