Credit Suisse Bankers Exit as Post-Archegos Defections Mount
Six Credit Suisse Bankers Exit as Post-Archegos Defections Mount
(Bloomberg) -- More than half-a-dozen senior Credit Suisse Group AG bankers have left the firm in recent weeks, the latest in a raft of defections following the implosion of Archegos Capital Management and uncertainty about future bonuses.
Jason Wortendyke, global co-head of mobility and services, rejoined Citigroup Inc. to run diversified industrials along with Francis Tucci, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. Wortendyke will also co-head the Chicago office alongside Matt Musa. Wortendyke worked at Citigroup in London and Hong Kong before joining Credit Suisse.
Other departures include New York-based Ihsan Essaid, Credit Suisse’s head of media and telecommunications mergers and acquisitions, and San Francisco-based Kamal Ahmed, a managing director focused on semiconductors in the firm’s technology investment-banking group. Both are joining Barclays Plc, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Essaid will be co-head of mergers and acquisitions in the Americas and Ahmed will be global head of semiconductor investment banking.
Credit Suisse was the biggest loser when the world’s top investment banks raced to exit trading positions as Archegos collapsed, pushing it into a 900 million-franc ($997 million) pretax loss for the first quarter and prompting a management shakeup. The Zurich-based company slashed the amount of money set aside for employee bonuses by hundreds of millions of dollars and used the savings to limit the financial hit from Archegos.
The prospect of uncertain compensation and a long journey ahead to steady the bank is accelerating poaching, in an industry that’s seen a surge in business in the wake of the pandemic. That’s particularly the case in Asia, where wealth managers are competing for the growing ranks of the rich, and in the U.S., where cheap money and surging stock markets fuel dealmaking.
In Singapore, JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Elaine Zhang to lead its China private banking business, as the U.S. bank moves ahead with its strategy to tap growth from Asia’s second-largest wealth market. Zhang, who spent more than 10 years at Credit Suisse, will start as China market leader in the city state in August, the U.S. bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
Read more: JPMorgan Hires From Credit Suisse for Rich Chinese
In New York, Leo Reif, a managing director within Credit Suisse’s health-care group, left to join Jefferies Financial Group Inc., said a person with knowledge of the matter. Stephanie Ruiz, a managing director within the global industrials investment-banking arm, left the Swiss bank for another opportunity. And Simon Auerbach, a managing director focused on business and information services, exited to join Lazard Ltd., some of the people said.
Representatives for Credit Suisse, Barclays and Jefferies declined to comment, and Lazard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A Citigroup representative confirmed the contents of the memo and declined to comment further.
The exits follow the departures of four financial-institutions group bankers who joined Barclays, Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently, as well as separate departures in Australia and Europe.
Kierin Deeming moved to JPMorgan to lead mergers and acquisitions advisory for Australia and New Zealand, and Karl Rozman, a managing director, joined Bank of America in Sydney, where he’ll lead the bank’s Australian natural resources sector coverage.
In Europe, Citigroup hired Didier Denat as chairman of the alternative assets group in EMEA, Bloomberg reported last week. He’s rejoining the firm after 21 years at Credit Suisse, most recently as head of its corporate bank in Switzerland.
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