Morning Coffee: Risk professionals needed here. Barclays' U.S. coup. Ultimate CV formula from Google

22 April 2014

4 minute read

Morning Coffee: Risk professionals needed here. Barclays' U.S. coup. Ultimate CV formula from Google

Easter is over. In the City of London there was a four day break. During that time, news happened.

If you're a former banking analyst looking for work (and we know there are a few out there still), you should be punting your CV to Europe's new top markets regulator, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The Financial Times says ESMA's already increased its headcount from 35 to 180 but that this isn't enough. ESMA chairman Steven Maijoor complained to the paper that he needs more resources to, "“fully analyse stability risks in the financial markets.” Don't expect to get paid though: Maijoor also implied that ESMA is a bit unfunded.

Separately, Barclays knows how to play PR. Late on Thursday (when everyone was otherwise engaged with Goldman and Morgan Stanley's results), the Telegraph reported that the British bank had shaken up the management of its investment bank. Following earlier speculation that co-heads of the investment bank, Tom King and Eric Bommensath, are due to be ousted, the two men have taken a step back from 'direct control' of the investment bank and introduced a new level of management. It's not clear whether this was their idea, or someone else's.

King and Bommensath's distancing looks like especially bad news for Barclays' investment bank employees in Canary Wharf, who seem to have been subjected to a U.S.-led coup. Although King is based in the U.S., he's a European banker by trade, as is Bommensath - who is based in London. However, under the new delegated leadership structure, Barclays' investment bank is a tripartite edifice, two columns of which are situated on the other side of the Atlantic. Eric Felder, a US-based ex-Lehman (where he famously earned $15m in one year) banker is now head of markets, Joe McGrath, a US-based ex-head of global finance is now joint head of banking. And Richard Taylor, the ex-head of investment banking EMEA, is now the other joint head of global banking. Only Taylor is in London.

Barclay is under pressure. The bank's shares have fallen 8% over the past year, while the rest of the sector has risen. Sky News reports that Barclays plans to make thousands more redundant from its investment bank, while the Financial Times reports that the bank plans to exit large parts of its metals, agricultural and energy business. Barclays is due to unveil new plans for its investment bank on May 8th. Big things are expected. Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins is said to be considering, "all options except the status quo." However, Jenkins is also said to be planning 'changes at the margin' rather than a wholesale culling of the investment bank. All will be revealed in 16 days.

Separately again, Google's head of recruitment has divulged the simple secret of the perfect CV to the New York Times. Lazlo Block said the secret of a good CV, '“is to frame your strengths as: ‘I accomplished X, relative to Y, by doing Z." Block offers this journalism-related example: "Most people would write a résumé like this: ‘Wrote editorials for The New York Times.’ Better would be to say: ‘Had 50 op-eds published compared to average of 6 by most op-ed [writers] as a result of providing deep insight into the following area for three years."