More FX turmoil at Merrill Lynch
Interesting question, because it seems that anyone who signs up to this particular Faustian bargain must know that they’ll only last two years in the job, going by recent history. So Merrill has to pay up. And the more it maintains a hire and fire strategy, the more it will cost to build an FX business.
However, talking to one of its many former global heads, it seems that it’s not just money that lures people to the job. He says that when he was approached for the role, Merrill convinced him that he would be the one who made the difference. A Euromoney colleague quipped: “It’s the same as the manager’s job at Newcastle United then.”
For those readers not familiar with English football, Newcastle United is perceived as a sleeping giant. Managers come and go frequently, with the promise of having all the resources to build the best of teams. Newcastle United was taken over recently; it will be interesting to see if the new owners make the difference the club’s long suffering fans have waited for. It sounds exactly like Merrill.