Trading Places
Inside views on the jobs market
Bank crunch hits end-of-year festivities – oh, and more jobs
Ahh, just when you could use a stiff drink on the company’s tab to kill the sobering mood wrought by this year’s financial carnage, you find out you’ll be coughing up for the bill yourself at the annual holiday shindig. Such is the case for scores of London’s financial workers. As Reuters’ Olesya Dmitracova reports, employees at some of the biggest names in town – Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Barclays and so on – will be on the hook for their own year-end parties. A reasonable cost-cutting measure, it seems, during these often unreasonable times. Too bad, though, for those who get stuck drinking swill should their annual bonus get slashed too.
Across the pond, some employees of failed Washington Mutual received some less digestible news on Friday. JPMorgan, which bought WaMu’s banking operations in September, announced job cuts were on the way for some at the former thrift’s Seattle headquarters and elsewhere. Though overall numbers are still not known, and most will retain their jobs, at least 1,600 back-office WaMu staff who worked in California got word they’d be out of a job by March. More concrete figures and dates for others are expected on Monday. How’s that for a start to the holiday season?
Has the credit crunch hurt your end-of-year party plans?
Job Bank – Oct.27
The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Oct. 27, linked where possible to personal profiles on LinkedIn. To inform us of other job changes, please send an e-mail to: moves@thomsonreuters.com.
Deloitte
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services (Deloitte FAS) said it elected David Williams as chief executive officer and Kerry Francis as chairman for the U.S. portion of the unit. Williams, 46, replaces Frank Piantidosi who has been CEO since 2003. Piantidosi is moving into the role of chief executive of Deloitte North America Financial Advisory. Francis, 47, will continue to hold her standing title as leader of the group’s national Corporate Investigations practice.
BearingPoint
Consulting firm BearingPoint said it hired Michael Kirby, former deputy undersecretary of the Army, to bolster its public services business transformation expertise. Kirby was responsible for implementing the Army’s business transformation initiatives while serving at Army headquarters, the company said.
MFC Global Investment Management MFC Global Investment Management said it has named Jeffrey Santerre as head of product management in the United States. Santerre is responsible for developing and implementing investment strategies in the United States, the company said.
Rothschild Boutique investment bank Rothschild has hired three M&A bankers from Lehman Brothers in a sign that some smaller banks remain confident even as the credit crisis ravages their larger rivals. Rothschild, said it had appointed Antonio Villalon as co-head of its Global Financial Institutions Group (FIG). Rothschild also named Stephen Fox as co-head of its British FIG, while Philippe Le Baquer joined to work on FIG deals in continental Europe and on cross-border deals.
Wall Street’s high-profile ‘job jumpers’
The New York Times’ Dealbook takes a look at some of Wall Street’s biggest movers and shakers as they have played musical chairs in the last few months:
Days after Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, it emerged that Mr. Shafir, a global cohead of mergers and acquisitions, was leaving for Citigroup. Mr. Shafir stayed long enough to help sell Lehman’s United States capital-markets business to Barclays.
As head of Lehman’s communications banking group, Mr. Young, known as Woody, was that firm’s biggest rainmaker. After abruptly leaving Lehman in early 2007, he resurfaced last month at Merrill Lynch, just a week before Merrill agreed to be sold to Bank of America.
A banker’s banker, Mr. Sarkozy, the halfbrother of the French president, brokered transactions as joint global head of UBS’s financial institutions group. In March, he became co-head of the global financial services group at Carlyle Group, the private equity giant.
In his 22 years at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Kraus rose as high as co-head of its investment management division. But in May, he left to become head of strategy at Merrill Lynch, where another Goldman alum, John Thain, had recently taken the helm.
As chief financial officer at Lehman Brothers, she was one of Wall Street’s most powerful women. But she was demoted after her defense of the firm’s health failed to comfort skittish investors. In July, she jumped to Credit Suisse to run its global hedge fund business.
Mr. Schwartz became chief executive at Bear Stearns a few months before its sale to JPMorgan Chase & Company. He decided in July to leave JPMorgan and has not announced his next move. He has reportedly talked to investment banks and private equity firms.
Photo: Children play musical chairs after taking part in a role play exercise during an induction course at Mexico City’s stock market July 15, 2005. Mexico City’s stock market holds an induction course for children who’s parents would like them to learn the basics of market capitalism during their summer holidays. REUTERS/Andrew Winning
If we get any closer to a depression these people won’t be jumping jobs, they’ll be jumping buildings.
