MDs leave Credit Suisse's equities business as UBS men join

The shakeup of Credit Suisse's equities business may not be over after all. As we reported last year, the Swiss bank cut a swathe of senior equity derivatives professionals before bringing in Mike Stewart from UBS as head of equities. Now, Credit Suisse has also added Benoit Rauly from UBS and Giuliano Cislaghi, a managing director in its own equity derivatives team, has disappeared.

Rauly was global head of complex equity and hybrid trading at UBS. Credit Suisse confirmed his arrival and said Rauly will develop investor products with a specific focus on the equity derivatives market, reporting to Eraj Shirvani, global head of solutions.

While Rauly's joined, Giuliano Cislaghi, an MD in Credit Suisse's equities trading business, has left. Cislaghi had spent eight years at the Swiss bank after joining from Lehman Brothers in 2008 and was one of Credit Suisse's most senior equity derivatives salespeople following the departure of Andrea Negri last December.  Cislaghi's exit may have preceded Rauly's arrival.

With Stewart and Rauly now in control of Credit Suisse's equities business, the expectation is that the bank will hire more people from UBS this year. Equities plays a more significant role at UBS's investment bank than Credit Suisse's, although Credit Suisse has the larger market share.

2017 has the potential to be a year of change for equities businesses at investment banks. Deutsche Bank is making 17% of its equities professionals redundant, starting tomorrow, and banks in Europe are preparing for the bombshell of MiFID II. Panmure Gordon has also been clearing out equities sales staff for this reason. 

Nonetheless, headhunters are expecting movement in equities and equity derivatives this year. Tim Throsby is shaking things up at Barclays and is expected to hire former colleagues from J.P. Morgan. Similarly, Eric Dutruit is expected to hire at HSBC after joining from Nomura last year, and Goldman Sachs may yet hire to replace Quentin Andre and Dirk Keijer who left for Citi this time last year.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit: Credit Suisse, Oerlikon by Thomas Leuthard is licensed under CC BY 2.0.