Late Lunchtime Links: RBS investment bankers given sudden stay of execution

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is not a happy place to be. Stephen Hester, who - it now seems - was the chief defendant of the investment bank - has departed and RBS has said that it plans to make another 2,000 redundancies after exiting all equity derivatives and structured retail investor products and simplifying its risk management structure.

Today, however, there is some happy news. RBS's equity derivatives bankers may be wanted elsewhere. Bloomberg reports that rival banks might be interested in bidding for RBS's equity derivatives operation. - BNP Paribas, SocGen, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan are all said to be checking it out. Unfortunately, any excitement may prove premature. Last year, RBS tried spinning out its M&A boutique too, but its efforts came to nothing.

Meanwhile:

Ian Hannam says his email didn’t constitute inside information as he was merely spinning the facts to keep the client interested. (Guardian)

JP Morgan barred Mr Hannam from bringing in new business without permission, forced him to stand down from the board of its London investment bank and began monitoring his e-mails and phone calls. (The Times) 

BlueCrest has hired another three credit traders, one from Goldman, one from Credit Suisse and one from a hedge fund. (Bloomberg) 

Deutsche Bank has hired Simon Gorringe, a senior UK coverage banker who left Bank of America Merrill Lynch last month. (Financial News) 

Another senior M&A banker joins the corporate sector. (Bloomberg) 

UBS let go of six senior investment bankers in Japan and hired seven equities bankers instead. (Bloomberg)  

Ernst & Young needs to massively increase its advisory revenues. (Going Concern) 

Why Ernst & Young’s big advisory push is a bad idea. (RetheAuditors) 

Willem Buiter has a $4.3 million (£2.8 million) flat on Manhattan's Upper West Side. (Telegraph) 

In the UK, graduates expect to send 34 applications for their first job. In Spain it's 69. (Guardian)