Barclays has done it again. After letting go of 100 directors and managing directors from its investment bank in January, insiders say it’s just taken an axe to its European credit trading team. Four of the most senior staff have reportedly been cut. Another has been moved internally.
Bloomberg reported earlier that James Deighton, head of European flow credit, is leaving the British bank, but the cuts seemingly go deeper than that. Jeremy Hughes, head of European leveraged credit, CLO and ABS distribution, is understood to be leaving too. So is Simon Quinn, head of Benelux and Scandi sales. Neil McLaren, head of European credit distribution, is understood to have been moved internally.
Meanwhile, another Barclays distressed salesman is understood to have moved to Goldman Sachs.
Barclays didn’t immediately comment on the apparent moves, which surprised observers after the bank out-performed rivals in fixed income trading the first quarter. In a presentation last September, Tim Throsby, CEO of Barclays’ investment bank, said he intended to grow Barclays’ sales and trading revenues, partly by “pursuing targeted growth in specific opportunities related to prime, equities and credit.”
Barclays’ cuts come after the bank hired around 40 managing directors across its investment bank in 2017, plus another six MDs in the markets business in the first quarter. They also come as activist investor Edward Bramson mounts a campaign to get Barclays to cut down on its investment banking activities.
Some Barclays observers suggest the changes are ominous for senior salespeople everywhere: “It looks to me like they’re moving to more of an electronic execution model,” says one.
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