UniCredit in retreat

It was no secret in the market that dissatisfaction at UniCredit, a conglomerate formed by the merger of about 20 different financial institutions, rose sharply after the bank told its FX staff by email that none of them would be receiving any form of bonus for their performance in 2008. This was despite the business having what insiders say was a very good year. Sources suggest that the move was one of the factors that prompted the departure of Ben Welsh from the bank in early April. Welsh was hired in September 2007 at a time when hopes were high within UniCredit that it would be able to meld together its numerous disparate parts and capitalize on what it described as its size and distribution network.

This story was first published on theweeklyFiX, for more details please click here

It was no secret in the market that dissatisfaction at UniCredit, a conglomerate formed by the merger of about 20 different financial institutions, rose sharply after the bank told its FX staff by email that none of them would be receiving any form of bonus for their performance in 2008. This was despite the business having what insiders say was a very good year. Sources suggest that the move was one of the factors that prompted the departure of Ben Welsh from the bank in early April. Welsh was hired in September 2007 at a time when hopes were high within UniCredit that it would be able to meld together its numerous disparate parts and capitalize on what it described as its size and distribution network.

However, the world has changed and talk is that the bank is retreating back to its roots in the Italian regions. What this means for all the constituent parts elsewhere remains unclear but it has created a tough working environment for all those who bought into the dream, including, it seems Dan O’Sullivan, who decided to follow Welsh out of the door. O’Sullivan was the bank’s global head of FX trading. The two, who met at Goldman Sachs, have worked together for many years. O’Sullivan was one of Welsh’s first hires, joining the bank in October 2007 from HSBC NY. Well-placed sources say that neither of the duo has anything firm lined up, but that they are likely to resurface soon. 

This story was first published on theweeklyFiX, for more details please click here