Deutsche Bank director quits for Morgan Stanley before non-bonuses announced

Watch out for moves from Deutsche Bank. As the bank's bad bonus news sinks in and other banks start filling holes, Deutsche is going to be a prime hunting ground. One Deutsche Bank director has already left for Morgan Stanley.

Socratis Tapeinos left Deutsche Bank this month. A director on Deutsche's counterparty risk and XVA trading desk, Tapeinos had been at the German bank for nearly four and a half years since joining from SocGen in 2012. Prior to that, he spent two years as a director of CVA trading at SocGen. He joins Morgan Stanley's counterparty risk desk as an executive director.

Aggregating counterparty risk in order to hedge against it from a central trading desk has been a big trend in banks over the past five years. Most banks also use these desks to make 'fair value accounting adjustments' known as XVAs. As the number of adjustments increases, McKinsey & Co. says XVA desks are a growing area.  

As a director, Tapeinos would have been among the Deutsche traders deprived of a cash bonus this year. 10-20% of people above VP level at the bank are getting "retention packages" to be announced in March, but these will reportedly be worth nothing unless Deutsche's share price rises another 20%.  

Having quit Deutsche and joined Morgan Stanley in the same month, it looks like Tapeinos decided not to wait and see what Deutsche dishes out in March. It also looks like Deutsche might be providing its senior staff with favourable exit terms: leaving one bank and joining another in the same month is usually unheard of.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

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