London headhunter accusations: Fake jobs, fake identities

If you've received a call from a headhunter offering you an amazing job in return for information on your compensation and pnl, be wary. Bloomberg claims today that search firm Odin Partners has been using fake jobs and fake identities to elicit information on pay, traders' names and pnl. 

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Odin Partners didn't respond to a request to comment for this story. Nor did its law firm, Questin Partners. Bloomberg says that Questin described the accusations as "false."

Odin is one of London's leading search firms. Run by two partners - James Hext and Thomas Mounaver (who didn't respond to a request to comment for this article) - it's said to be extremely profitable and extremely aggressive. "Understand that this isn’t a 9-5 job," says Odin's own recruitment site, while stressing that it wants to hire people committed to its "ethical values." The firm also has offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, which are understood to operate relatively independently.

Bloomberg claims that traders everywhere from Credit Suisse to Deutsche Bank, Nomura Holdings Inc., BNP and Morgan Stanley have received calls from Odin headhunters asking for information. In the past, it says Odin staff used fake names. 

One headhunter at a rival firm says this kind of "rusing" is unfortunately common. "Rusing has been around as long as headhunting," he tells us, noting that his firm absolutely does not do it. "Everyone wants compensation and pnl information. Everyone wants to know why, for example, BNP is making $50m in their inflation book, so you call a junior BNP trader and tell them you've got a great seat for them and see what they will tell you." 

One senior trader alleges that Odin previously targeted his boss with pnl figures from rival banks, suggesting he was insufficiently profitable. This has not been confirmed by Odin. "They are very aggressive," he tells us. "They would make other banks look fantastic, and my boss would wonder why I was not doing as well."

Bloomberg notes that Hext and Mounaver are also the directors of the market research company Vali Analytics, but says that the two companies are distinct and that it has seen no evidence that Vali obtained data from rusing. One former employee of Vali analytics informs us that the firm's data comes from "publicly reported financials and interviews" and says the data is shared only to "heads of trading" at leading banks. 

37-year-old Hext in particular is a big figure on the London headhunting scene. "He's a very nice, likeable smart guy," says one rival headhunter. "He's also very successful, so a lot of people are going to be happy with this Bloomberg article. No one wants to see their rivals doing well." Not everyone is quite so praising of Hext, however. 

Bloomberg notes that Odin generated £2.2m ($2.9m) in dividends last year. Rivals say Hext is "almost certainly" making seven figures. Sources say the firm employs a lot of juniors, some of whom thrive there, many of whom do not. 

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