Jobs roundup: Reshuffling replaces recruitment
As things became bogged down in mince pies and Christmas parties, only a few organisations kept hiring last week. Departures and reshuffles took precedence over recruitment.
Several high profile figures chose the end of the year as the time to move on. After a difficult year in which her investments were scrutinized by the German finance regulator, Robin Saunders, head of West LB's principal finance unit announced she was quitting in January in order to 'pursue other opportunities in principal finance.'
David Felman, a former star manager at Andor Capital, the world's second largest hedge fund, parted company with his former employer after the funds he managed underperformed the market by about 30% in 2003.
Meanwhile, John Thain, current president and chief operating officer (COO) of Goldman Sachs, was confirmed as new chief executive of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), starting in January.
Thain's departure prompted one of several reshuffles. Goldman Sachs announced Lloyd Blankfein, a 20 year Goldman veteran and vice chairman responsible for equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities, as his replacement. Following the departure of Thain and John Thornton, who left in March to take up a post as a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Blankfein is now well placed to succeed Hank Paulson, Goldman's Chairman and CEO.
Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley also engaged in some top level reshuffling. In a drive to expand its leveraged finance franchise, Merrill Lynch rearranged its leveraged banking team and appointed Todd Kaplan, COO of its global markets and investment banking division, as head of global leveraged finance.
Robert Druskin was appointed chief executive of Citigroup's global corporate and investment banking group, replacing Chuck Prince who was appointed CEO in October.
Meanwhile Morgan Stanley reshuffled its M&A bankers, and combined 9 of its best deal makers in a new strategic engagements group under Jo Perella, an M&A veteran at the firm. Members of the new group will be absolved of management responsibilities and free to concentrate on doing deals.
Last week's limited hiring was of out-of-industry figures who do not need upfront bonus payments to induce them to move at this time of year. Bank of America announced the appointment of Anthony Belinkoff as head of media and telecoms corporate investment banking; Belinkoff was last seen in the markets two years ago as a managing director at CSFB.
Lazard continued to strengthen its advisory board, with the appointment of Archie Norman, conservative MP and former CEO of Asda, the UK supermarket chain.
