The new fund hiring investment bankers in France

A new fund company founded by three senior French bankers is causing some excitement in France, according to headhunters.

La Française IS, an 'investment solutions' company co-founded by Sofienne Haj-Taieb, the former deputy head of capital markets at Société Générale corporate and investment bank, has been hiring and is reportedly the hot thing for French investment bankers disillusioned with working for big firms.

"Sofienne is talking to everyone he has worked with at SG and all are eager to work for him," said one headhunter in London, who declined to be named. "Everyone's really excited about his new venture."

Founded in June 2012, but only recently licensed by the French Regulator (AMF), La Française IS is 65% owned by La Française Asset Management and 35% owned by its three co-founders. Alongside Haj-Taieb, they include: Arnaud Sarfati (former global co-head of cross-asset solutions at SocGen) and Nicolas Kompalitch (former head of equity derivatives trading at Exane.)

La Française IS declined to comment on its hiring plans. In recent months, however, it's recruited Shiraz Latiri, a former vice president in the risk engineering group at SocGen, Edouard Laurent Bellue, a former equity derivatives trader at Morgan Stanley, and Guillaume Dupin, the former head of equity derivatives flow trading at Credit Agricole. A switchboard operator at the company confirmed the men were on board.

Other senior hires are in the pipeline according to headhunters. "Everyone who has ever worked at SocGen is talking about this at the moment," said one.