Morning Coffee: When two 20-something bankers get together. Job losses mount

Assortative mating, or the conjugation of two people with similarly elite academic achievements and comparable upper middle class family backgrounds, has become a thing. Indeed, it's one reason why there's been an increase in income inequality in the past decade. If you're an ex-elite student who works in finance, therefore, what better spousal strategy can you adopt than finding someone of your ilk who also works in finance, and marrying them?

Unsurprisingly, this happens. German banker couple Dorothee and Martin Blessing (ex-Goldman and ex-Commerzbank) are one of the best known finance couples, but there's also Andrea Ash and Chris Parkinson (Pioneer Investments and Cardano), or the recently-separated Cooper-Hohns (The Children's Investment Fund).

The Financial Times has conversed with an estate agent who helps clarify why unions of this sort take place. Charlie Olver, a partner at Knight Frank’s Knightsbridge branch, says he has just sold a two-bedroom London flat for 'close to £4m' ($6m) to a couple in their late 20s. The buyers involved were, “clearly City money”, said Olver. Why take out a mortgage based on one banking pay package when you can take out a mortgage based on two?

Separately, more banks are making more job losses. Citi is the latest to arrive at cudgeling. Bloomberg reports that Michael Corbat will be lopping off 2,000 jobs starting next month. The institutional clients group (ICG) will not be unduly affected, however, with cuts in the division merely afflicting under-performers. Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reports that Morgan Stanley will be doing away with 5% of its least imperative equities salespeope and traders.

Meanwhile: 

I'm 23 years-old and have £300k to invest. What should I do? (Financial Times) 

Credit Suisse may move about 40 traders and 60 back-office staff from its prime brokeage unit to Dublin. “Dublin offers an attractive operating environment for our business from the perspective of talent pool, infrastructure and efficiencies.” (Bloomberg)

The Swiss financial services regulatory has banned five or six former UBS employees for one to five years for attempts to manipulate FX benchmarks. Niall O’Riordan, UBS’s former global head of forex spot trading, and Chris Vogelgesang, its former global head of forex trading, are said to be among those sanctioned. (Financial Times)

If you want to work for a hedge fund, start your career at Goldman Sachs. (Business Insider) 

The $2bn BlueCrest hedge fund that manages the personal fortunes of its partners made double-digit annual gains over the past three years while its flagship offering for outside investors lost money.  (Financial Times) 

The Goldman Sachs Christmas crossword. (Business Insider)

The hip hop hold music at Barclays wasn't what it seemed. (Evening Standard) 

Photo credit: Heart – by Helen Penjam is licensed under CC BY 2.0..