European Jobs' Roundup: Commerzbank cuts 900
Looming job cuts became a reality last week, with Commerzbank announcing 900 redundancies across its investment banking business. There was recruitment too: ABN Amro made four equities hires.
After posting third quarter losses of 208 million euros ($258 million), Commerzbank let the axe fall. The German bank revealed plans for swingeing redundancies: headcount at the London investment banking unit is to be cut 50%, to 300. By comparison, staff in Frankfurt escaped lightly: only 7% of German investment banking staff face the chop.
Deutsche Asset Management continued to suffer unplanned departures. Rob Barr became the tenth senior person to leave in the past five months. Barr was a client director for UK pension funds.
Despite the lateness of the season and the proximity of bonus payouts, ABN Amro announced four hires in equity research and convertible trading. They are John Carnegie and Michael Sones from Citigroup, who join as European building analyst and mining and steel analyst respectively; Daniel Lacalle from Enagas, the Spanish energy company, who joins as European utilities analyst; and Richard Moore from JP Morgan, who joins the global convertible trading team.
Arbuthnot also beefed up in research. The small mid-cap investment bank hired Shai Hill from HSBC. Hill joins as head of research. At HSBC he was head of the bank's highest rated analyst team, covering beverages, leisure and tobacco companies. Last month Mark Brown, Arbuthnot's new chief executive made 15 to 20 staff redundant, a fifth of the total.
The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, revealed itself in multiple hiring mode. The group recruited three people for its European leveraged finance team: Colin Atkins joins as a director from Prudential M&G; Nilesh Desai joins as an associate director from Citigroup; Stuart Mackenzie joined as a senior associate from Alcentra.
Skaddern, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a US law firm, went all out in the German market, hiring five partners to strengthen its financial services presence. All came from Baker Mckenzie, a US rival.
There was the usual handful of fund management hires. ABP, Europe's largest pension fund with 157 billion euros under management, hired Roderick Munsters as head of investments. Munsters joins from PGGM, the 57 billion euro scheme for Dutch healthcare workers. He was chief investment officer.
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers hired Gavin Corr from Morley Fund Management for its European equity team.
Finally, Frederique Dambrine joined Calyon, the French investment bank. Dambrine joins from BNP Paribas where he was deputy head of prime broking. He is expected to spearhead a move into prime broking at Calyon.
