Departures are coming thick and fast, and the latest this week was Richard Moore at Citi (see People moves), who left his role as regional head of fixed income, EMEA at the bank. Richard’s background, though, was very much in FX. I met him back in the 1980s, soon after he started at the bank and was working as the number two on spot dollar/mark. He always struck me as extremely affable. In fact, so affable that I was a little surprised at how quickly and how far he ascended the greasy pole. He was made chief dealer in London back in 1992 and his biggest role was head of global rates and currencies, which he assumed in 2002 and held until the bank created its FICC unit in late 2006.
The internal memo that announced his departure made me laugh. It was addressed to “All FICC employees.” And there was me thinking that all the thickies were in credit – that bunch of rocket scientists who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.