Morning Coffee: Banks are making big hires in preparation for 2025. The most precarious jobs at Millennium

First, JPMorgan was spied hiring some junior bankers and some recruiters to hire even more junior bankers via its own recruitment portal. Now we detect a more diffuse sort of senior hiring ahead of what might be a good year for banking revenues, broadly defined, in 2025.

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Last week, for example, JPMorgan hired Rumesh Rajendram from Deutsche Bank to be head of consumer M&A for Europe. Rajendram was at Deutsche for a brief 16 months before leaving again. He may not have required much inducement to join JPMorgan, but he will surely at least had his bonus bought out for this year.

Other assorted recent movers include Kartik Subramanian-Nair, who's gone from Barclays to Goldman Sachs, also in London. Subramanian-Nair was a director in Barclays' capital markets leveraged loan syndicate and who will be joining Goldman as a managing director in capital markets, which sounds like a good exchange. Or Rob Cicchetti, who's gone from CIBC to Mizuho with three others to build out the asset backed trading and investing business in New York. Or the 26 mid-market technology bankers who've just gone to Lincoln International in Europe as part of its purchase of TCG Corporate Finance. 

The hires come as banks are slimming existing teams ahead of bonuses. At the same time, senior traders like David Malvern at BNP Paribas have negotiated exits in a possible indication that bonuses in markets won't be the best. Nonetheless, the new late-season banking arrivals - many of whom won't arrive until 2025 - are a vote of confidence in next year. Once this week's election is out of the way - and the result determined, banking revenues may stage their long awaited comeback. No one wants to be left out. 

Separately, following the Wall Street Journal's recent article on the precarity of some roles at hedge fund Millennium, Bloomberg has highlighted a species of Millennium job which seems even less secure than the rest. 

Portfolio managers who trade against corporate events like mergers are vulnerable to regulatory rulings that prevent these mergers from taking place. Two of Millennium's senior portfolio managers in London - Laurent Pujade and Ed Cooper - have reportedly been struck by this phenomenon in recent weeks. Pujade was betting against the merger of some handbag makers (Tapestry Inc and Capri Holdings) one of whom's share price fell 50% when a court ruled against the acquisition. Cooper was wounded by a ban on the merger of two Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Both men endured losses as a result. 

Millennium is known for its strict draw down limits and for ejecting anyone who infringes them, but Pujade and Cooper's fates seem more arbitrary than most. Betting against the machinations of the regulatory system is particularly Kafkaesque. Good luck to all who try it.

Meanwhile...

Two versions of the culture at Citadel Securities. “When you put up numbers you will be well rewarded. When you don’t you will be shot. It’s very simple,” says one ex-employee. Citadel Securities “expects and rewards excellence,” says the firm. (Financial Times)  

A Manhattan judge said Citadel Securities can proceed in its case against Portofino Technologies and the alleged stealing of trade secrets because Portofino hired Vincent Prieur, who worked on high speed trading technologies for Citadel. (Bloomberg)   

A JPMorgan banker and a Deutsche banker founded data firm 9Fin to break news on leveraged finance deals in 2016. Now it's being sold for $500m. (Financial Times) 

Sumitomo Mitsui fired a mysterious insider engaged in multiple insider trades. (Bloomberg) 

Nomura CEO Kentaro Okuda will voluntarily return 20% of his pay for two months, a Nomura statement showed on Thursday. (Yahoo) 

Nomura said profits more than doubled in its latest quarter, to their highest point in four years. “We are seeing results from our medium- to long-term initiatives to grow stable revenues and diversify our revenue sources, reaffirming our current strategic direction.”  (Financial Times) 

BNP Paribas hired Kevin Minn from Deutsche Bank for its New York FX desk. (FX Week) 

The FCA says Crispin Odey's response "lacked candor” after he was given a written warning for his conduct. “He used improper means to protect his own interests and achieve his objectives.” (Bloomberg) 

A 27-year-old woman says a partner at a crypto firm drugged her in Hong Kong. (DLNews) 

Alex Soros, son of George Soros, has been campaigning for the Democrats, but no one recognises him. “Alex is a deeply political animal.”  (WSJ) 

Private equity professionals in London are happy about the new government's approach to capital gains tax. “I’m glad I don’t have to look into moving to Paris, put it that way.” (Guardian) 

Jamie Dimon's special powers: “He knows what every vibration on every rope means. He can feel it in his palms, in his fingers. There’s nobody else in that bank who can do that.” But also: “The tragic flaw of Jamie Dimon? Everyone loves working for him, and then the moment they get too close, or the moment they are mentioned in the press as potential successors, he shoots them.” (The Times) 

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