An equity sales veteran left this bank amidst complaints about bonuses

Julian Dickinson, a veteran equity salesman at Credit Suisse is understood to have resigned. Sources say he's off to join Bob Diamond at Panmure Gordon.

Dickinson joined Credit Suisse in 1997 after 10 years at Charterhouse Tilney, a private client stockbroking firm. A (previously) loyal employee of Credit Suisse, he's been a longstanding feature of the bank's equity broking team.

Credit Suisse declined to comment on Dickinson's exit and he didn't respond to an enquiry about his move to Panmure.

Dickinson's departure can be read partly as a result of MiFID II legislation, which is squeezing equity sales teams at large banks as buy-side clients become wary of talking to brokers for fear of being charged for calls.  However, exit comes amidst complaints that bonuses paid to Credit Suisse equities professionals were poor for last year, with many people being paid down or receiving zeroes. "People are feeling very under-appreciated," says one.

Credit Suisse paid its average "material risk taker" across the bank a salary of CHF556k ($583k) and a bonus of CHF900k ($949k) last year. Whilst this was a lot more than Barclays, it was less than at Deutsche Bank and at UBS. Revenues in Credit Suisse's equities division declined 8% last year compared to an increase of 2% at UBS and 3% at Bank of America. This was partly because systematic equities revenues were reclassified in the private bank, but also reflected what Credit Suisse described as "market challenges."

Credit Suisse hired heavily for its equities business under new head Mike Stewart in 2017 and insiders suggest the recruitment contributed to a squeeze on the equities bonus pool. Credit Suisse has continued to hire in 2018: the bank recently hired  Rene Maier from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as head of head of structured equity derivatives sales for Germany.

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