Barclays is losing senior fixed income sales staff three days before bonuses

As a possible part of the 400 redundancies reported at Barclays last week, we understand that the U.K. bank has parted company with some of its longest serving London-based sales staff.

Andrea Anselmetti, head of European FX sales has left the bank according to headhunters and colleagues. We also understand that Emad Taktak, head of rates hedge fund sales has also left the bank. Barclays declined to comment on either departure. A colleague of Taktak's said he was no longer at his number and there was no method of contacting him.

Barclays' redundancies are conveniently taking place just before bonuses are announced at the British bank this Friday. As senior and long-serving staff, both Anselmetti and Taktak would likely have been in line for handsome payouts. Taktak joined Barclays from JPMorgan in 2002 according to his FCA record (which shows him still with the British bank). Anselmetti joined from Goldman Sachs in 1998.

Barclays is expected to lose swathes of other staff after bonuses are paid. After a difficult year for the fixed income business, compensation for 2013 is expected to be disappointing. As we reported in early January, Alok Modi director of long-end STRIPS trading at Barclays left for Morgan Stanley at the end of last year.

One headhunter who works with Barclays and asked to remain anonymous, said the bank remains overweight in terms of senior staff: "They've never really had a big clear out and they have a lot of expensive people who've worked there for years.

"With a big flow machine you don't need a senior sales guy - you just need a junior who can crack-on," he adds. "A lot of banks are splitting sales people into tier one coverage people who cover top accounts and tier two coverage people who cover lower-touch electronic trading clients. The nature of sales jobs is changing and fewer expensive senior staff are needed."