Morning Coffee: The latest Libor fall guy, revolving door at Goldman Sachs
In April, Deutsche Bank reached an agreement with British and American regulators to pay $2.5bn in penalties, hoping, like other banks, to move past the headline-grabbing inquiry into bankers’ manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor). Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS are among the other banks that have paid billions of dollars in fines stemming from the global benchmark interest rate scandal.
On Wednesday, the Financial Conduct Authority barred Michael Curtler, a former Deutsche Bank trader, from the U.K. financial services industry after he plead guilty in the U.S. last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, crimes that came to light during the Libor investigation. The FCA statement accused Curtler of “lacking honesty and integrity.”
Curtler is the third person to be barred by the FCA as the regulator attempts to impose tough penalities on individuals involved in the scandal. It hasn't always been successful. Tom Hayes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison, has been the most obvious high profile prosecution, but six brokers accused of helping him manipulate Libor were acquitted in January.
Curtler awaits sentencing in the U.S. The Department of Justice had alleged that from 2003 to 2011 he engaged in a conspiracy to manipulate Libor.
The FCA said that Curtler changed his Libor submissions based on Deutsche Bank colleagues’ requests to benefit the trading positions of the bank and themselves. He even asked around the office to find out what traders’ Libor preferences were, according to the British regulator.
Separately, Goldman Sachs has been losing a number of very senior staff.
Eric Dobkin, one the longest-tenured partners at Goldman Sachs known as “the father of the modern-day initial public offering of stock,” announced his retirement. He created Goldman’s equity capital markets division in 1985, altering the way bankers executed IPOs by giving mutual fund firms first crack rather than relying on individual investors. And John “Jack” Daly, a Goldman Sachs partner who led a merchant banking group, quit to become the head of industrials at private equity firm TPG Capital.
Meanwhile, Citigroup has hired two derivatives executives away from Goldman Sachs. Dirk Keijer, who ran the Goldman’s equity derivative sales for Europe, is now the head of equity derivative sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Citi. Quentin Andre is now the head of global structured sales at Citi.
Meanwhile:
Man Group is setting up a new "quantitative incubating" unit and is hiring (Bloomberg)
J.P Morgan has rehired James Burt from Barclays to lead its small and mid-cap sales team (Financial News)
Barclays' hiring practices in Asia are under investigation by U.S authorities for its 'princeling' recruitment.(WSJ)
John Cryan may have the toughest job in banking today. (Euromoney)
Deutsche Bank has poached a new head of capital markets technology from Citi (Trade News)
French investment banks are experiencing a bit of a reprieve from doom and gloom. (Bloomberg)
Morgan Stanley is building its wealth management business in the U.S - it's planning to hire 75 advisers (Bloomberg)
The revolving door at Nomura' Asian investment bank - a dozen senior people have left and now, Mark Williams, its head of investment banking for Asia ex-Japan has gone (Reuters)
UBS recently poached from the same rival, appointing Alice Crawley, a 17-year veteran of Merrill Lynch, as the global head of business selection and conflicts for corporate clients solutions (CCS).
Why banks of all sizes, especially mortgage lenders, fear a U.K. vote to leave the European Union, a.k.a. Brexit. (WSJ)
It costs $112,800 (£80,700) per person on average to accommodate an employee in London, slightly more than in New York and more than double the cost in cities such as Sydney, Los Angeles and Chicago. (WSJ)
Meet the richest hedge fund billionaires (Business Insider)
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