Senior fixed income bankers leave Credit Suisse in Singapore to join Goldman Sachs in Sydney
In a move that belies the moribund Australian job market in fixed income, Goldman Sachs has convinced two senior Credit Suisse bankers to leave Singapore for Sydney. But while Goldman probably paid a sizable sum to poach them, push factors would have played a part in their decision, too.
The Credit Suisse directors, Timothy Egan and Christopher Corbett, will launch an Australian interest rate trading and sales business at Goldman, according to The Wall Street Journal. Corbett will handle trades and Egan will deal with institutional sales.
“Goldman Sachs has been trying to build in fixed income for some time and it’s been talking to a lot of people,” says one Sydney headhunter, who asked not to be named. “It tried to relocate some of its own senior traders from Hong Kong, but they weren’t keen to go.”
The headhunter says he is “certain” that Goldman would have been paid over the odds to poach the two bankers out of Singapore – a larger financial centre than Sydney with low tax rates. Across the banking the sector in Australia, however, compensation and headcounts in fixed income are declining.
Goldman’s relocation follows a 12-month period in which other firms, including TD Securities, RBC Capital Markets and RBS, have moved fixed income trading teams out of Australia and into Singapore and Hong Kong.
Credit Suisse’s planned fixed income expansion was aborted last year because of market conditions. “Corbett and Egan were quoting into Australia, so when Credit Suisse’s build-out ended, their scope became limited and they became more open to other opportunities,” says the headhunter.
He adds that in Australia Credit Suisse recently lost senior fixed income banker Brad Harper to NAB. “This is symbolic of what's been happening at the firm, and it’s made other people vulnerable to poaching. The business is under pressure.”
The Swiss bank has suffered several high-profile Australian departures from other departments in recent months, including Alex Toone, co-head of commodity sales, and three directors who reported to him: Charles Perrignon, Luke Collins and Richard Doyle. “It’s also lost several equity analysts across energy, transport and infrastructure, and has cut people in ECM and M&A,” adds another anonymous recruiter.
