Morning Coffee: Another senior banker fired for inappropriate behaviour. Nepo baby at PWC
What did Dylan Foo do to get fired from Apollo? Entirely unsubstantiated rumours are sweeping forums, but neither Foo nor Apollo are saying much. Foo declined to comment to both Bloomberg and to Infrastructure Investors, which broke the story, and Apollo is simply saying that New York-based Foo "behaved inappropriately towards an Apollo employee” and that it "does not tolerate conduct or actions that violate the firm’s policies or undermine its culture.” There are suggestions that this is not strong enough.
Whatever Foo allegedly did, Apollo is unlikely to have dismissed him easily. As the firm's head of infrastructure investing, Foo was in a booming area; Apollo is in the process of raising a $4bn infrastructure fund and Geoffrey Strong, Foo's former co-head of infrastructure left last year. 46-year-old Foo, who is Australian, joined from AMP in 2019 and has over two decades' infrastructure experience.
Foo's seniority at Apollo makes it likely although not certain that his inappropriate behaviour involved a more junior member of staff than himself. In July, Reid Snellenbarger, Lazard's Chicago-based co-head of restructuring and capital solutions, was let go for allegedly inappropriately touching a junior employee at a party.
In Foo's absence, Apollo's infrastructure business globally is being run by Olivia Wassenaar, the firm's head of sustainability. The infrastructure business in Europe is run by Dylan Petrie, whom Foo hired from AMP in August 2022.
Apollo is trying to change its culture to become a less ruthless and more wholesome employer under new CEO Marc Rowan. Earlier this month, Marc Becker, the firm's former head of impact investing and an amazing human being, passed away. For Rowan to achieve his aim, Apollo seemingly needs more people like Becker and fewer like Foo.
Separately, the ultimate nepo baby has spent a spell at PWC in Australia. Nathan Albanese, the son of Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese reportedly spent two weeks interning at PWC in Sydney last summer, during which time he wasn't paid. Two years later, a senior partner in PWC's Australian tax practice leaked confidential government information to clients about government plans to crackdown on tax avoidance at multinational companies.
Meanwhile...
Fintech firm Lanistar paid its employees £2,000 to write positive reviews of the business on company comparison site Glassdoor. “Only talk about Lanistar, its growth and how it has changed from the old reviews.” The staff member with the best review of Lanistar would win £2,500, second place would win £1,500, third place £500, fourth place £250 and fifth place £150. (Financial News)
Bank of England's Victoria Cleland says being a woman can have its advantages. “In international meetings I was not only one of the few women I was typically a lot younger. It was having the confidence to speak up. If you have an important point, you make it.” (Financial News)
Axa Investment Managers is cutting 90 jobs across the UK, France and Germany, although the cuts in France and Germany require union consultation and are conditional. (Bloomberg)
Alex Gerko at XTX holdings is very rich after the holding company of his quantitative trading firm XTX Markets paid out a record £1.6 billion ($2 billion) dividend to its owners earlier this year. Gerko himself is now thought to be worth $10.8bn. (Bloomberg)
RBC hired Credit Suisse oil and gas banker Tim Perry. (Bloomberg)
Carlo Agostinelli, UBS's head of ECM syndicate for Asia is leaving. (Bloomberg)
Dressing like a banker has become fashionable. There's been a “huge increase” in demand for tassel and kiltie loafers. (WSJ)
If you're having trouble relaxing and your digestion, you can buy a $299 vibrating device which you place on your chest to relax the nerve that runs from your brain to your digestive system. (WSJ)
Opinions of an ex-Goldman Sachs banker and yoga teacher: "Business leaders need to understand that if something is lost with remote work, something else is gained. Without a commute, more people have time for yoga and whatever other activities inspire them and make life worth living." (Fortune)
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