Merrill leaks in sales trading

Industry sources say UBS has poached Jamie Perryman, a senior sales trader at Merrill Lynch. According to recruiters, there could be more defections to come.

Perryman's tenure at Merrill Lynch is understood to have been short lived: recruiters say he joined from Citigroup in 2005 and that his departure is likely to have come as a surprise. It follows the exit of others such as Nigel Fenn, another Merrill sales trader for UBS last year, and may precede further departures from the team.

"UBS offers an excellent opportunity for the best sales traders to work on a strong execution platform," says Mark Horlock, a consultant at search firm Alexander Mann. "Declining margins, increasing regulation and evolving technologies have made the quality of overall equities execution increasingly important," he adds.

This week UBS ranked first for the fifth consecutive year in the Institutional Investor European Research Survey. However, not all search consultants are willing to join the love-in of the Swiss Bank. "UBS has a good equities platform, but is it the best? - Probably not," says one London equities specialist.

What is more certain is that Merrill will need to fill the gap left by Perryman. Even before the departure, recruiters say the bank was already in the process of recruiting extra staff for equities sales trading.

Merrill Lynch and UBS did not return calls on Perryman's move.