UBS poached a top trading technologist from Credit Suisse as techies command guarantees

UBS has poached yet another top trading technologist as it tries to build its cash and electronic trading capabilities. Michael Farthing, a former managing director at Credit Suisse, has been brought on board by UBS. Based out of London, he has joined the firm as a managing director and will be focusing on electronic and algorithmic trading technology.

Farthing spent the past two decades at Credit Suisse and has 31 years of experience overall. He moved before bonuses were paid, suggesting that UBS compensated him for the loss of his bonus at Credit Suisse and gave him a guaranteed payment for the past year.

This is the sort of thing that used to be restricted to people in front-office jobs like sales and trading. Now techies have also started commanding guarantees and Farthing is potentially among them.

He started his career in 1987 at Her Majesty's Customs and Excise (HMCE) and spent almost seven years there before moving on to OCS Methods Plc. as a consultant in 1994. He joined J. P. Morgan after a year as a consultant but shifted to Barclays' investment bank in 1996, where he worked as a development database administrator in the firm's equities IT department. In 1998, he joined Credit Suisse and remained there until UBS got him to join.

This is the second senior hire by UBS in the past six months as the bank tries to strengthen its electronic trading capabilities. In August last year, UBS hired Peter Sheridan, the former head of U.S. algorithmic trading, sales and coverage at Goldman Sachs, to lead its electronic trading distribution team in the Americas. Sheridan had been at Goldman Sachs for over 12 years.

UBS is among many investment banks which have been ramping up their electronic trading businesses by recruiting senior trading technologists.

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