Who is Philip Southwell, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's new MENA head?
According to various reports this morning, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Philip Southwell, regional investment bank EFG Hermes' first CEO for the GCC region, to run its MENA operation.
What do we know about BoA Merrill's new senior man in MENA that may offer you some tips to career success?
He is an Old Etonian
Attending the prestigious British school undoubtedly helps open doors, and Southwell's Eton education has obviously served him well. He graduated in 1985 and went on to study at the University of Durham until 1989 before completing his ACA qualification throughout his traineeship within the financial services group of what was then Touche Ross in 1992.
He started working in equity capital markets
Upon completion of his ACA, Southwell went on to work for Smith New Court as a senior associate within its equity capital markets team in 1993, before moving to Merrill Lynch as a senior vice president within its London-based ECM team in 1995. He joined Deutsche Bank in 1997.
Loyalty helps, but move for the right opportunity
Southwell stayed at Deutsche Bank from 1997-2009, but during that time he travelled. A lot. He worked in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo. During this time he set up the Asian-Pacific ECM business, was co-head in Europe and latterly became managing director of investment banking for Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Middle East & Africa.
Despite the Middle East connection at Deutsche Bank, Southwell only moved to the Gulf when he took the EFG Hermes role in 2009.
Get some big names on your CV
Southwell isn't shy about boasting about the deals he's worked on. He claims to have worked on $50bn worth of equity deals, $25bn of M&A and $5bn of debt issuance throughout his career. Still, it's the big names that count - he worked on Hutchinson Whampoa's $5.2bn sale of Vodafone in 2000 and Halifax's 6.4bn IPO in 1997.
Work for a bank that is expanding
In 2008, when Southwell was in his last role at Deutsche Bank, the firm embarked on an ambitious Middle East expansion plan to add 185 sales, trading and investment banking jobs in the region.
Similarly, since chopping staff in late 2009, EFG Hermes unveiled a series of new offices and hires throughout last year, including a new Syria operation, a Jordan office and a Jeddah-based MENA equity research team.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch also suggested late last year that it had plans to hire in the Gulf.
