Two top Deutsche Bank fixed income strategists leave after research costs cut

Two of Deutsche Bank’s top high yield strategists in New York, known for their insightful and irreverent research into the bond markets, have just jumped for big new roles in U.S. investment banks shortly after German bank chopped the cost of its fixed income research.

Oleg Melentyev, Deutsche’s head of U.S. credit strategy, has returned to his former employer – Bank of America Merrill Lynch – as head of high yield credit strategy. Meanwhile, Daniel Sorid, a director in Deutsche’s U.S. credit strategy business who co-authored research reports with Melentyev, has joined Citigroup as head of U.S. investment grade credit strategy.

Investment banks are scrutinising how they price research as the deadline for MiFID II is set to hit early next year. The regulation requires banks to break out the costs of research separately from other trading charges, and this is generally considered bad news for big banks. Much of the focus has been on how this will decimate ranks of equity researchers, but banks’ fixed income research teams could also suffer.

Deutsche Bank has halved the price of its fixed income and macro research to €30k ($35k) in the run up to MiFID II implementation, according to Bloomberg, while Credit Suisse is set to offer fixed income research for free.

Melentyev and Sorid are known for producing big, thought-provoking research notes, and for their frank assessments of the problems facing fixed income markets in the U.S.

Melentyev joined Deutsche Bank in 2012 as head of U.S. credit strategy, a role that sits within its rates and credit strategy research platform, reporting into Dominic Konstam, its global head of rates research. Melentyev worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for 12 years before joining Deutsche, latterly as head of HY/EM corporate credit strategy.

Sorid, meanwhile, started out as a journalist working for Thomson Reuters and Associated Press. Deutsche Bank was his first major bank employer, a role he moved into in 2010 after completing an MBA at Columbia Business School.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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