Morning Coffee: JPMorgan's junior bankers lost some perks, gained a "transcendental experience." RBC's equities hiring spree

If you're a junior banker at JPMorgan in New York, you won't have to wait decades for the sort of spiritual revelation that hedge fund founder Bobby Jain says should be your focus from the age of 80. Instead, you can take the elevator to floor 13 and see the face of Jamie Dimon in a pint of Guinness. 

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This is the sort of thing that the Wall Street Journal says takes place in the "English pub" at JPMorgan's newly constructed New York office. Dimon's Guinness showing was not a visitation but the work of a machine that impressed his features on the foam as a joke. Even so, it's "transcendental" up there in the words of JPMorgan's head of real estate. There are "captivating sunsets" and reminders that even in a $3bn steel tower you're at the mercy of the natural world: gales whistle past the windows, which shake in their (bronze) casings. 

All of this sounds very fine for a 25 year-old banker seeking more than spreadsheets. Unfortunately, the WSJ says it's also not easy to get into JPMorgan's portal of pints. The English pub in the sky at JPMorgan tends to be filled with senior bankers and their clients; if you want to go, you need to book a slot well in advance. 

Difficulties getting into the pub matter, because although JPMorgan's new office has a signature smell and an interstellar entrance hall, the new building has coincided with niggles that could be smoothed by a pint in the clouds. The gym there comes with a fee. The workstations are crowded. JPMorgan managing directors who had their own offices at Madison Gardens now share small offices and are expected to sit on open-plan floors. And the JPMorgan junior bankers - who were previously able to work from home and expense meals in the evenings, can now expense meals only if they're in the office late, and must use the cheapest cabs when they leave.

Transcendence is therefore needed. But there are 10,000 people working at JPMorgan's Park Avenue office and 55 places in the pub. Only the select will make it in.

Separately, another Canadian bank is going big on electronic equities. Bloomberg reports that RBC has hired Noel Reyes from Goldman Sachs, plus "at least eight" other senior equities professionals since July.

Reyes is a big catch. He was previously head of Americas electronic trading product at Goldman Sachs. Before that, he was head of Americas execution services product at JPMorgan.

Perfecting the art of electronic trading is often allied to targeting hedge fund clients. TD Securities has also spent the last few years building out an electronic trading business. Reyes presumably received a big inducement to leave big American banks for RBC.

Meanwhile...

Wall Street bankers account for 50% of Hampton's house price purchases and now that bonuses are paid they want a weekend retreat. (NY Post)   

Brevan Howard's crypto fund lost 30% last year. The Brevan Howard Master Fund gained 4% in January, though. (FT) 

David Solomon at Goldman Sachs owns some bitcoin. He says he is mostly an observer of the asset. (Bloomberg)  

Hollyport Capital, a private equity firm focused on secondaries, wants to sell itself for $1bn. (Bloomberg) 

KKR spent €1.1bn to acquire electronic bike maker Accell after the pandemic. Now it's worth nothing at all. (FT) 

How to prepare for an AI interview: Record yourself answering six to eight common question. Review the recording on mute, just watching your presence and body language. Listen to the audio only focusing on pacing, filler words and clarity. Then watch the whole thing. (WSJ)

Glitches in videos stop you getting hired. Most damaging are: distortion, lags, sustained video loss, echoes or brief freezes, audio drops. (WSJ)  

Working for AI start-ups is a nightmare. 16 hour days, six days a week. (Guardian) 

It used to take 60 days to close an AI software deal. Now it takes six months. (WSJ) 

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