Morning Coffee: Banker who completed 33 IPOs in 30 months dies of suspected heart attack. Goldman share price storm

A charismatic banker with a tremendous work ethic has died of a suspected heart attack in his early 50s.

Simon Cox, a British-born equity capital markets (ECM) banker, who built his career working for UBS in Australia after graduating from Oxford University nearly 30 years ago, died of a suspected heart attack on Saturday night. After nearly 22 years at UBS and nearly two years at Credit Suisse, Cox was due to start working for Bank of America early next year.

Colleagues described Cox as, "wickedly intelligent, very charming and very charismatic," with a strong moral compass, massive vocabulary, and the ability to, "tell a funny story like few others."

Cox also had a massive work ethic. There were times he was working on one new initial public offering (IPO) every week. In 2016, for example, he famously completed 33 IPOs in 30 months. "He had a great ability to build tight, respected relationships with CEOs and CFOs, particularly on fatiguing IPO roadshows requiring the team to be travelling around the globe for weeks on end, and repeating the same meeting eight times a day," said one former colleague. "He has probably worked on more deals than many in the markets and he could tell you about each and every one of them."

For all Cox's enthusiasm and talent for his job, he also took his health seriously. At Credit Suisse he would often walk 7.5km to the office, and after his IPO marathon in 2016 he took extended leave from UBS to rest and recuperate. At the time of his death, he appears to have been on gardening leave before joining Bank of America. "We will all miss his intellect, humour and kindness," said the chief executive of Credit Suisse in Australia.

Separately, David Solomon's 1MDB headache at Goldman Sachs just got more intense. Amidst a general market rout yesterday, Goldman's share price fell 7.5% - the most in more than seven years and by twice as much as any other U.S. bank. Only Morgan Stanley came close to matching the fall, with a drop of 3.5%. The fall came as analysts suggested Goldman could be exposed to costs of up to $2bn from lawsuits and probes, including $1bn relating to the allegation that Goldman helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars in Malaysia.

Meanwhile:

Barclays now requests that employees inform it of marriage, civil partnerships or romantic relationships between colleagues, customers or suppliers that are new, ongoing or have recently ended. (Financial News) 

Perella Weinberg hired Philippe Capron, CFO of Veolia, as CFO in its Paris office ahead of Brexit. (Financial Times) 

Goldman Sachs man who joined Deutsche Bank four years ago leaves again. (L'Agefi) 

Goldman Sachs doesn't want bars beneath its new London office, or people peering through the windows. (Marketwatch) 

The new head of Deutsche Bank's London business is Tiina Lee. The bank is opening a new London office in 2023: “Great Britain and Ireland will remain a key location for Deutsche Bank.” Handelsblatt) 

Citi wants a bigger Paris office. One insider said it was a “no-brainer” that employees prefer Paris to Frankfurt because of the culture, schools and proximity to London. (Financial Times) 

Ex-Goldman Sachs partner turned German deputy finance minister: “If insurers, if asset managers, if the entire financing ecosystem moves to Germany, then the banks won’t just think about moving several hundred jobs to Frankfurt, to Germany, but several thousands. That is our big ambition.” (Bloomberg) 

Nomura's Steve Ashley warns against Brexit: "...the cost for not just ourselves but for every single European bank to have separate pools for capital and funding is actually very dangerous for many banks that are not in great financial health.” (Bloomberg) 

Alliance Bernstein has got a virtual assistant that can suggest the best bonds to buy and sell based on pricing, ease-of-trading and risk. (Bloomberg) 

Goldman Sachs partner unexpectedly embroiled in the 1MDB scandal: “He told me early on that to be successful in this business you don’t have time for hobbies, you need to focus on it 100 per cent." (More here) (Financial Times) 

Kweku Adoboli on his deportation: "I’m not a dishonest person. I know that,” he says. “Yes, I made massive mistakes and f*cked up on a massive scale at UBS but I’m not a threat to anyone. I have paid for those mistakes — I was sentenced to seven years in jail — but now I feel like I’m being punished twice." (Financial News) 

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