NatWest Markets cut technologists, business heads

It's nearly a month since NatWest Markets (AKA RBS) let go of 79 people in the front office and another around 20 in middle and back office jobs. Four weeks after the event, the identities of those who left are apparent. - And they form a warning for anyone elsewhere who thinks they're immune to the chop.

NatWest isn't commenting on who was let go and who left entirely of their own accord with no job to go. It seems reasonable to presume, though, that anyone who left last month and is now out of the market was part of the cuts. On this basis, NatWest chopped heads of businesses and - surprisingly - senior technologists.

Nicolas Dechosal, head of emerging markets short term interest rate trading, left after two years. Natalia Cermeno, head of rates structuring, left after six years. Colin Holdstock, head of trading and flow sales for APAC, left after six years. Scott Fisher, senior credit underwriter, left after 10 years, to name but a few.

In other words, despite complaints at the time that NatWest was unfairly letting go of graduate trainees only hired the previous year, it seems to have removed plenty of expensive senior staff too. 

The exits also included senior technologists. Ian Holwell, a senior applications support lead, was out. So was Matt Jamieson, a developer who began his career at Lehman and was NatWest's head of fixed income desktop and credit/securitized products technology. 

As banks prune costs, the implication from NatWest is that technologists can't presume they're safe. Nor can heads of business. Nor can the directors and junior staff who made up the bulk of the cuts. Watch your backs.

Photo by Michal Balog on Unsplash

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