Bloody Monday, they called it, in the Australian banking industry and press.
On Monday, UBS – already weakened by an exodus of senior staff to upstarts Jarden and Barrenjoey – was hit by a new wave of departures, this time mainly on the research side.
Heading for the out-door, and apparently the Barrenjoey in-door: Josh Kannourakis, co-head of the emerging companies research team; analysts Jon Mott, Glyn Lawcock and Matt Ryan, Aryan Norozi, Dan Morgan and Minh Pham; and associate director of research Craig Stafford.
On the investment banking side, managing director Luke Bentvelzen is understood to be leaving, and so, reports the AFR, is Justin Dwyer from the financial sponsors team. Craig Webb in ECM is also believed to be departing. Euromoney contacted UBS about the moves, but the bank declined to comment.
And while Barrenjoey is doing most of the poaching, it is not the only one: Goldman Sachs and MST Financial have also been persuading people to leave UBS, according to reports.
Why Monday? Apparently, that is when the last component of annual bonuses hit people’s accounts.
Considerable challenge
It is a big blow. UBS has the best institutional equities business in the country and has always been the investment bank to measure oneself against in Australia. It has a deep bench, but faces a considerable challenge to maintain its leading position in the face of this onslaught.
Barrenjoey already has a host of ex-UBS people on board, notably Guy Fowler and Matt Hanning, while UBS’s former chief executive for Australia Matthew Grounds is expected to join once his non-compete expires.
Backed by Barclays and Australian fund management group Magellan, it is now clear that Barrenjoey intends to be a full-service investment bank including a research team.
That, in turn, follows the raid of Jefferies upon CLSA, and the launch of Jarden Australia, led by another UBS veteran, Robbie Vanderzeil.
Australian investment banking is unrecognizable.
