Morning Coffee: Intern says she was subject of bizarre and offensive behaviour at asset management firm. Back office jobs disaster
A strange case involving an asset management intern and a London School of Economics and Bocconi graduate who was already on the training scheme, has made it to court.
David Buccheri joined M&G Investments' graduate programme in 2015 after graduating with distinction in the Masters of Finance at the London School of Economics. He spent a year on M&G's 12 month rotational programme before moving on to become a fund manager's assistant in August 2016.
In September, 22 year-old Rebecca Baker, a graduate of the UK's Durham University with five A levels at A*, also joined M&G, as an intern in the HR department. 25 year-old Buccheri is said to have asked Baker for her phone number and invited her out for coffee. She seemingly declined. Buccheri subsequently sent Baker messages via M&G's internal email system such that Baker felt "uncomfortable and intimidated," and complained to HR.
It was when Baker was offered a full time graduate position herself, however, that Buccheri allegedly took his harassment of her to an entirely new level. He stands accused of downloading photos of Baker from her social media accounts in April last year and manipulating them so that her head appeared on the body of porn actresses. Under the pseudonym, "Flying Squirrel," Buccheri is then alleged to have uploaded his photoshopped images of Baker to a pornographic website before reporting the images he'd created to the HR department using an internal whistleblowing system in an effort to discredit her.
Buccheri is now being tried for harassment without violence in a court in London. A lawyer for Baker says he engaged in, “increasingly complex and insidious harassment” with the intention of “destroying her credibility and reputation”. Baker continues to work for M&G after a period of leave, while Buccheri's career seems to be in tatters before it really began.
Separately, Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS has long talked of some kind of shared services arrangement for multiple banks' back office functions. Now it seems something of this kind may be coming to fruition. Bloomberg reports that UBS and Credit Suisse are exploring the possibility of sharing back office. This follows a comment from Ermotti last week to the effect that back office costs have become too expensive for one bank to bear alone. What's good for banks may not be good for back office employees, however: redundancies will surely follow.
Meanwhile:
Jessica Casucci, an Ernst & Young partner since 2014, claims multiple senior colleagues witnessed a male partner lift her up and sexually harass her at a conference in Orlando, but did nothing to stop him. (Financial Times)
Morgan Stanley had its best first quarter fixed income results in three years. (Financial News)
Women in senior support roles within technology, auditing and risk management at UK banks take home an average of 10.7% more than men in the same roles. (Financial News)
Millennium Management in New York hired a trader from Arrowgrass in London. (HFM)
Point72 Ventures is pushing into Asia. (Bloomberg)
Tom Montag appointed Bernard Mensah (another ex-Goldman fixed income trader like himself) as head of BAML's European business. (Financial News)
J.P. Morgan and Citi are the new queens of FX. (Bloomberg)
35 year-old trader says 54 year-old boss imparted illegal trading techniques during mentoring sessions. (Bloomberg)
Deutsche Bank COO Kim Hammonds is leaving, whilst being described as a "breath of fresh air." (Financial Times)
"Now that volatility is back, people are moving back to hedge funds." (Institutional Investor)
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