Does it help to have worked for HSBC if you want a job at Mizuho now?

Things are changing at Mizuho Securities in London. As we reported last month, the Japanese bank ejected many of the hires made by its former head of fixed income trading, Zahra Peerbhoy, after recruiting Asif Godall as global head of its sales and trading operation in Emea three months ago.

However, just as Peerbhoy showed a proclivity for hiring from her former employer (Credit Suisse), so eyebrows are being raised at Godall's choice of a former HSBC colleague, Claus Jorgensen, to run Mizuho's EMEA credit trading business. 

Jorgensen and Godall worked together for years at HSBC. Godall spent over a decade at the bank before leaving in 2016 to join Cairn Capital, where he became chief investment officer until joining Mizuho. Jorgensen was HSBC's co-head of credit flow trading in London for seven years until 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. Since then, he's sat on the board of property management groups and been head of research and strategy at hedge fund Fairwater Capital, a small fund with five listed employees in London.

Jorgensen was reportedly fired from HSBC but subsequently attempted to sue the bank for unfair dismissal. The results to that case were not publicized. 

Eyebrows are apparently being raised inside Mizuho at the choice of Jorgensen to lead the credit trading business, both because of his time outside of banking and the lack of clarity over his departure from HSBC. 

Jorgensen wasn't the only ex-HSBC hire announced last week. - Mizuho also recruited Mahmoud Atalla, a former member of HSBC's special situations group, who reported to Godall from 2012. 

Godall also made some non-ex-HSBC hires. Amandine Triadu, a former Nomura trader, joined as head of credit and emerging markets repo. And Roy Martins joined as head of institutional sales and client relationship management in EMEA after last being seen at Bank of America in early 2018.

Either way, as HSBC prepares to cut up to 500 jobs from its global banking and markets business, Mizuho looks like a potential safety net. HSBC fixed income traders who worked with Asif Godall might want to give him a call.

A spokesman for Mizuho said: "We are very pleased with the new appointments to our Global Markets EMEA business. We believe that both those who we are welcoming back to Mizuho International and those who are joining for the first time are well placed to help drive our growth strategy and we look forward to their positive impact, as we continue to evolve the business across the region."

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