Trader who quit Goldman Sachs for Morgan Stanley is back 6 months later

A trader who left Goldman Sachs for Morgan Stanley in December 2017 is understood to have quit Morgan Stanley to return to Goldman.

Julian Naden Robinson, who joined Morgan Stanley in January 2018 as head of Sovereigns, Supranationals and Agencies (SSA) trading, left the U.S. bank last month according to insiders. He's thought to be returning to GS, where he worked for five years.

Naden Robinson and Goldman Sachs didn't respond to a request to comment on the move. Naden Robinson wasn't on Morgan Stanley's telephone directory when we called. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Morgan Stanley's fixed income trading business is capable of big things according to CEO James Gorman, who said this week that the current target of $1bn in quarterly revenues is too little after the bank generated $1.9bn in revenues in the third quarter. Gorman also said that Morgan Stanley's fixed income trading business is one of its most attractive areas because it stands to see substantial growth if interest rates rise.

Goldman Sachs has been hiring insiders at vice president and executive director level as it seeks to reinvigorate its fixed income trading business. Earlier this year, Goldman suffered various exits from its London macro trading business as senior and junior traders quit for a combination of hedge funds and other banks (particularly Deutsche).

SSA traders deal in bonds issued by organisations  working on social or economic public policy initiatives. They include development banks, social security funds. export creditors and infrastructure developers. Naden Robinson has been working in banking since graduating from Oxford University in 2008. As a student he was a keen supporter of the Liberal Democrats, as witnessed by a blog post he wrote on their 2005 conference, which can still be seen here.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)