Goldman Sachs hires, J.P. Morgan loses, as equity derivatives hiring heats up

Following last week's equity derivatives moves at Citigroup, two other US investment banks have joined the poaching and replacement carousel.

Goldman Sachs has recruited Joaquin Gutierrez Lantero from Morgan Stanley as an executive director for Iberian equity derivative sales. And Jose Casino has quit as head of Iberian equity derivatives at J.P. Morgan. Casino's colleagues confirmed his exit, while Lantero has updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new position at Goldman.

Headhunters say equity derivatives hiring is heating up, with Iberia an area of particular focus. "Iberia has been dead for years and a lot of desks were closed down," says one equity derivatives headhunter. "Now banks are trying to build up again."

Many of Citi's recent hires have come from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Nomura. These latest moves also leave Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan with gaps to fill. Further exits are predicted at J.P. Morgan, where some equity derivatives sales professionals are allegedly concerned about their 2015 bonus potential after being assigned unreachable targets.