Morning Coffee: So, this is why Barclays hired Tim Throsby. The weird 20 year-olds banks want to hire

Barclays' investment bank has got a new chief executive. As we noted yesterday, Tim Throsby has joined from J.P. Morgan to take the malingering business in hand.

Needless to say, Barclays' group CEO Jes Staley hails from J.P. Morgan and has made several other senior hires from his former employer. Barclays' new chief risk officer, C.S. “Venkat” Venkatakrishnan, came from JPM. So did Barclays' new chief operating officer, Paul Crompton. So too did Barclays' new investment banking CIO, Mark Ashton-Rigby. 

Throsby has more to recommend him than a shared past with Jes though. Throsby is good; he is very, very good. In 2010, Financial News reports that Throsby was "personally recruited" to join J.P. Morgan from Citadel by Jamie Dimon. Dimon wanted Throsby to reorient J.P. Morgan's equities business away from equity derivatives and towards cash products. Throsby did just that, rebuilding J.P. Morgan's electronic equities trading business and creating an electronic equities trading operation that's now regarded as "top tier."

It's in the numbers that Throsby's contribution really stands out though. After being promoted to head global equities, Bloomberg notes that he increased J.P. Morgan's equities revenues from $4.5bn in 2012 to $5.7bn last year. Barclays' equities revenues declined over the same period. Maybe Barclays' senior equities staff should be worried for their futures?

Separately, banks are notoriously fussy about who they hire. And with good reason. New research from British polling organization YouGov shows that most people (in Britain at least), experience a serious decline in motivation after the age of 25. Between 18 and 24, a declining majority think high stress is the worthwhile side effect of a life of high achievement. Thereafter, they change their minds. Banks want to hire the minority who are prepared to sacrifice relaxation for achievement throughout their careers.

Meanwhile:

Barclays is cutting between 100 and 200 back office jobs in Singapore and moving the roles to India. (Reuters)

Jes Staley hasn't only hired from J.P. Morgan: he also promoted one Barclays banker internally - Joe McGrath recently became head of operations in the US. (Financial Times)

The U.K. accounted for 39% of the global trade in interest-rate derivatives this year, down from 49.9% in 2013. The U.S. is now the biggest centre for interest rate derivatives trading. (WSJ) 

Investment banks in the City insist that they don't recruit graduates based on social class. "Do we pick somebody because of their shoes? I would like to think we have much more of an enlightened view of the world." (Financial News)

Women do ask for pay rises. They just don’t get them. (Warwick University)

Millennials can’t afford to look for new jobs. (HBR) 

No gel, no wax, no putty. These are the marks of convicts or advertising men, not the front-office banker. (Guardian)

The feelings of renewal that people report after a seven-day holiday fade within one to four weeks of returning to work. (Financial Times) 

Contact: SButcher@eFinancialCareers.com