A senior credit trader escaped from HSBC

HSBC has been busy in credit trading. Last year, it hired in Andrew Sinfield from J.P. Morgan as head of corporate credit trading in Europe. In March, it brought in Greg Sadler, a highly respected financials credit trader who'd been working for hedge fund CQS. But the flow of staff moves in both directions: the British bank has also lost one of its more senior credit trading professionals to Cantor Fitzgerald.

Julien Raffelsbauer was HSBC's head of desk analysis for high yield and investment grade corporate credit. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register suggests he arrived at Cantor in London late last month.

Raffelsbauer's role at Cantor is unclear, but it's a given that he'll be joining in a senior credit trading capacity. Before joining HSBC in 2014, he was the head of high yield, leveraged loans, distressed debt and special situations trading at BNP Paribas. He's also spent four years as a trader at Goldman and two years learning his trade as a high yield and distressed analyst at J.P. Morgan.

HSBC's credit trading business had an excellent first quarter, with revenues increasing 100% year-on-year. Banks and hedge funds in London are busy beefing up leveraged finance and high yield teams ahead of an expected reduction in credit quality after Brexit. HSBC hired Ray Doody as a new head of leveraged finance from J.P. Morgan in January. Blackrock has just Alexander Durgan, a leveraged finance associate who previously worked for Deutsche Bank.

Cantor Fitzgerald brought in ex-Deutsche Bank CEO Anshu Jain as president in January and Jain has set about strengthening Cantor's bench in credit trading in particular.  In May, Cantor hired-in veteran U.S. credit trader Ryan McDuffy from BBVA while two of its established traders left.

Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Photo credit: HSBC Building - Canary Wharf - London by Nick Garrod is licensed under CC BY 2.0.