Resignations and redundancies at Bank of America's equities business

Bank of America's European equity derivatives business has been hit by a spate of resignations and what we understand is a significant redundancy.

In the past few weeks, insider say four senior people have the left the bank's European equity derivatives operation. Three resigned, but one is understood to have left as part of a cost cutting process.

Whitfield Hines, a managing director and head of EMEA equity derivatives flow sales is said by insiders to have been made redundant by the bank yesterday. Neither Hines nor BofA responded to a request to comment, but colleagues confirmed that Hines is no longer at BofA.

Separately, the equity derivatives business is understood to have been struck by a series of recent resignations. Guillaume Arnaud, the head of EMEA solutions sales and structuring is understood to have quit the bank last week. Arnaud declined to comment. Alexander Askling, head of Nordic equity derivative flow sales, is also understood to have left in the past few weeks, along with Selma Sekkat, head of French equity derivatives sales. BofA didn't respond to a request to comment on the resignations. Neither Arnaud, Askling or Sekkat are on the bank's system.

The exits come as banks are predicting a resurgence in equity derivatives revenues as clients seek to hedge against volatile equities markets. Equities revenues at Bank of America rose 3% last year (compared to declines of 7% at Goldman Sachs and 20% at Deutsche Bank). In the fourth quarter of 2017, BofA complained of a decline in cash and derivatives trading due to low levels of market volatility. The resignations are understood to be partly the result of changed reporting lines in the division and discontentment with proposed new managers.

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