Barclays loses head of FICC research and chief European economist

Two top equity researchers and the chief European economist have left Barclays investment bank in the past month following the announcement of a fresh round of redundancies that will eventually see 820 senior managers depart.

Laurent Fransolet, managing director and head of European FICC research at Barclays and top-rated analyst Peter Bisztyga, head of European utilities equity research, left the bank in February, according to filings on the Financial Conduct Authority register. Their departure comes after plans to cut 220 managing directors and 600 director-level employees at the bank were revealed in February.

Julian Callow, managing director and chief European economist at Barclays, has also left the bank, according to the FCA register, suggesting that senior bankers in ‘softer’ functions have been targeted by cuts. Callow has been at Barclays since 2003, and led a team of 11 economists analysing the European economy and monetary and fiscal policy.

Fransolet has been with Barclays since September 2005, when he joined from JPMorgan where he was managing director and head of fixed income strategy. At Barclays he led the team responsible for strategy around European government bonds, covered bonds, sovereign supras agencies bonds and derivatives, and also oversaw the Japanese fixed income research product at the bank.

Bisztyga joined Barclays in 2010 from Liberium Capital where he was a utilities analyst and he has also worked for Citigroup from 1999-2008. He is understood to be joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, according to Financial News.

Barclays declined to comment.

The departures come amid a heating up job market for equity research professionals, following a period of retraction. Citigroup has lost a number of equity researchers in recent weeks  after allegedly paying below-par bonuses and Morgan Stanley has also seen some analysts depart in recent weeks.

Barclays has increased bonuses this year for its investment bankers to avoid a ‘death spiral’ of investment bankers leaving, according to its chief executive Anthony Jenkins.

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