Some researchers are leaving a bank with 5 days a week in the office, some have returned
If you're an equity researcher who likes to work from home in London, you probably don't want to work for Berenberg. The German bank likes its people to be in the office every day of the week.
Click here to follow our new WhatsApp channel. Get our updates straight to your phone 📱
It seems that not everyone is keen on this. However, it also seems that some are fine with working in the City alongside the Royal Exchange.
A couple of junior researchers are thought to have left Berenberg in recent weeks. They include Tryfonas Spyrou, an associate director on the insurance team and an associate on the TMT team. Their resignations follow those of Carl Murdock-Smith, Berenberg's co-head of media and telecoms equity research, who's understood to have gone to Citi and Peter Richardson, Berenberg's head of diversified financials, who's joining Barclays' investor relations team.
The motivation for the exits isn't clear, but there are suggestions for some of the individuals concerned at least, it might be related to Berenberg's aversion to working from home. The bank declined to comment, but it's understood that it's always had people in the office throughout the week. Citi, by comparison and for example, is understood to allow its researchers in for only three days. Some of the researchers have, however, left for banks that also require five days a week in the office.
Speaking off the record, one research headhunter says working from home is particularly popular in the sector. "A lot of analysts say they work better at home because the peace and quiet means they don't get distracted and can write better," he says. "But with revenues down, there's more of a push to get people back in the office."
If people are leaving Berenberg by virtue of its in-office policy, they are also joining and returning despite it. Vitor Giesteira, a hedge fund salesperson who left for Barclays in December 2022, came back to Berenberg in July. Nick Anderson, a luxury goods researcher who left for Unicredit and then Liberum is understood to have returned. Anna Patrice, a director in midcap research who left to become head of investor relations at Rubis in Paris, returned last September.
Berenberg has also made several hires in equity research: Anne Richardson joined earlier this year from SocGen; Stephen Barrett is joining from Cavendish; Nick Anderson is joining from Liberum.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
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 libellous (in which case it won’t.)
Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash
