Ex-senior rates trader demonstrates art of landing a big job on the buy-side

We have it on good authority that Richard Godfrey, a former senior rates trader at Credit Agricole and director of credit markets at BBVA, is moving into an exciting new role on the buy-side. Sources say Godfrey is off to Aviva Investors, where he will help build out the firm's structured derivatives capabilities ahead of a new fund launch.

Godfrey is nothing if not flexible. He began his career in 2006 as a prop trader in government bonds at RBS. When prop trading disappeared, he became a flow trader on the government bond desk at Credit Agricole for two years. From there he moved into credit trading, before becoming director of global credit markets at BBVA. Just 12 months on, he jumped to small investment manager Cadogan Finch, and now - two years after that - he's off to Aviva.

The moral of the story is that if you want to survive, keep moving. Godfrey's career is one of small, incremental moves in the right direction.

Aviva didn't comment on his appointment. It comes after Vidur Bahree, a former corporate financier, left his role as investment director at the Aviva Group a few weeks ago. The Aviva Group investment function is said to have been reorganized, with various members of staff who were only hired 15 months earlier asked to leave.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit: Jump Fish by LaniElderts is licensed under CC BY 2.0.