Morning Coffee: 35 year-old ex-Morgan Stanley trader's wealthy wife issues. Philosophical ex-UBS trader in Singapore is a sensation
If, aged 29, you were to marry a 34 year-old woman whose family had made nearly $1bn in Malaysia after the second world war, and who was in a position to buy a house worth over $20m in London's Primrose Hill, would you continue getting up at 5.30am and going to work as a rates trader at Morgan Stanley or Credit Suisse?
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In the case of Durham University graduate Ardal Loh-Granger, the answer was no. Having worked his way through a Goldman Sachs internship, three years at Morgan Stanley and two years at Credit Suisse, Loh Granger gave up working in 2018 to oversee renovations of the marital home and support his wife.
That may have been a mistake. While the "enormous" trust fund of his wife Wei-Lyn Loh may have seemed sufficient to sustain Granger into his dotage, he made the error of having an affair. Aged 35, he no longer has access to his wife's money cushion and has received a payout of only £2.4m ($3.3m) instead of the £6.5m he was hoping for. Granger's wife had a prenup and the judge ruled that he'd spent the other £4m during the latter stages of his marriage.
£2.4m is enough to live well if you're judicious with your investments. However, Granger, seems used to having staff and receiving £200k cars as gifts It's possible to navigate these relationships while remaining employed - ask ex-Goldman Sachs banker Rishi Sunak. If anyone wants a macro trader with home renovation experience, Granger may soon be back on the market.
Separately, someone who seems less likely to suffer marital infirmity is Minal Bathwal a 44 year-old trader at Brevan Howard in Singapore. Bathwal says the“first true test” of a good trader is ensuring that a spouse can't tell whether you had a good or bad day when you get home from work. “Be passionate about work, not emotional,” is his epithet.
In this way, Bathwal - who's described by Bloomberg as "philosophical" and manages $5.5bn - has had no down years since 2008.
Meanwhile...
Peter Mandelson asked Jeffrey Epstein for help setting up his advisory firm Global Counsel. (FT)
Barclays happened to be using Global Counsel's services. It's stopped that now. (FT)
Moelis and Evercore say that everyone wants to hire bankers. “The recruiting environment is heated up a lot, and it’s very intense and it’s very competitive. . There is no question that getting people to move is harder than it was two years or three years ago.” (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk is paying bankers up to $100 an hour to train his AI. (Business Insider)
Employees at Two Sigma were confused when a girlfriend of chairperson John Overdeck gained access to his computer and typed strange things into a shared file. (Bloomberg)
Ina De is retiring at JPMorgan. There is no mention yet of her joining Citi. (Financial News)
Now that it's staying private for longer, Revolut wants to bolster its corporate development team. It's recruiting an investment banker, asset manager or person with venture capital experience to oversee transactions, including potential M&A. (Bloomberg)
Indonesia's finance minister criticised a Citi economist for not having a PhD. (Bloomberg)
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