Why did Barclays just lose all these IBD juniors in London?

Barclays Investment Bank is laying people off. In theory it's laying them off from fixed income sales and trading. It's strange, therefore, that many of the people who've left Barclays in the past month seem to have exited from Barclays' London investment banking division (IBD).

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register suggests that around eight analysts and associates have left Barclays' London-based investment banking business since September. They may simply have quit of their own accord after deciding to pursue entirely different careers. Most only joined the bank in the past year or two.

The exits include: Pierre Arsene, a former associate in M&A who's now at JPMorgan, Andreas Backmann, a former associate in power and utilities, who's now at Infracapital Partners, Trond Bratlie, a former associate in TMT who's now at SEB, Robert Crews, an analyst in leveraged finance, Armand Cazalis de Fondouce, a an analyst in the power and infrastructure team, Anastasia Goryaeva, a Swiss IBD analyst, Romain Launois, an analyst in M&A, James Lochrin, an EMEA power and utilities analyst and Raffaele Terrone, an associate in the European consumer group.

There was also one VP-level IBD exit: George Tkhelidze, a VP in FIG, seems to have quit the bank too.

Headhunters say they haven't seen any big outflows of CVs from Barclays in London, suggesting the juniors may have left voluntarily. "- If they're analysts and associates, I suspect they'll be leaving for private equity," says one.

The many exits follow Barclays' efforts to improve the working conditions of its junior staff. "We are very focused on long-term career development and talent management for our junior bankers," said a spokesman for Barclays. "Our senior bankers and the wider leadership team work closely with our junior bankers to ensure their experience at Barclays is fulfilling, challenging and rewarding."