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Banks chase top talent left high and dry by Lehman's
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Affairs Editor24 Sep 2008
City banks are locked in a scramble to hire investment banking talent from Lehman Brothers.
The collapse of the Wall Street firm last week sparked a "once in a generation" opportunity to pick up some of the brightest - and highest earning - names in the City, headhunters say.
Although the sale of the investment banking and share trading arms of Lehman yesterday to Nomura will persuade some to stay, many are still said to be keen to move on.
One employment lawyer said some banks were "clearing the decks" of weaker employees to make room for recruits from Lehman.
Many are only in their late thirties and early forties and were hired on multi-million pound packages between 2004 and 2007 in a push by Lehman to built up an investment banking business in Europe capable of competing with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Linda Jackson, director of career consultants Fairplace said that with all the big American banks suffering it was a golden chance for second-tier players to buy up high-calibre recruits.
She said: "Some of the European banks have been saying: 'We haven't been able to get our hands on good operational people for two years - now we can.' It is a huge relief for them that they can get people from the US banks." Headhunters moved into the coffee bars and cafes around the Lehman Brothers Canary Wharf HQ within hours of its collapse, setting up make-shift recruitment offices to cherry-pick the best people.
A list of likely targets, according to website www.wealth-bulletin.com, includes Luca Tassan, 38, who is an executive director and head of corporate and infrastructure acquisitions financing.
He joined Lehman Brothers last year from Royal Bank of Scotland and has since worked on some of the biggest takeover financing deals in Europe including the £5.3 billion Carlsberg acquisition of brewer Scottish & Newcastle. Mr Tassan lives in Docklands.
The respected 80-strong proprietary trading desk at Lehmans should get soaked up "within a fortnight", said one headhunter.
While many jobs have now been secured the outlook is still uncertain for thousands in the City. But headhunters say many will be able to secure jobs in the Middle East and Far East if they are prepared to leave London.
As one ditty in the City puts it: "It's Mumbai, Dubai, Shanghai or goodbye."
Reader views (10)
Hmm - you highlight the most wanted bankers likely to be snapped up and by my reckoning none of them are British.
Oh yes - the Brits are the ones posting on here who have little or no understanding of how Investment banking works.
Makes perfect sense to me.....
- Paul, London, 24/09/2008 18:46
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hah hah all of us ex lehman people are laughing at your article. you didn't do your due diligence because you choose the wrong people to highlight. also you might have noticed that all the firms except for jp morgan and deutsche bank are in trouble so who has any money to hire these guys?
- Willie Michaels, london, 24/09/2008 18:24
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Farcical if it wasn't so sad, and people wonder why so many don't care anymore, when this goes on.
- P I Staker, london, 24/09/2008 17:49
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So many jealous small minded little people posting here who were too ignorant to read the in depth articles on the failure of Lehmans in the UK. Lehmans UK was actually successful in its own right, but the American parent took all of the money out of it to pay its US staff and let the UK operation go under.
- Tom, Watford UK, 24/09/2008 16:52
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They are so talented they helped to destroy Lehman. Why would I want them in my firm? Please publish a list of the people willing to give this lot so much power all over again.
- Alex, London, 24/09/2008 16:29
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Top Talent? Maybe I missed some subtlety in the demise of Lehmans: if these people are so good, how did they allow the company to go down the tubes?
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 24/09/2008 15:40
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Let's spread the talent..................
- Romulus, Tokyo, 24/09/2008 15:32
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Isn't a talent an obsolete piece of currency?
- Ted Riddell, Belsize Park, 24/09/2008 15:22
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so good at making bad deals - they really are not worth their wages!
- Fly, london, 24/09/2008 15:09
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If these bankers are so good why did Lehman go down the pan?
- James Edwards, Dineault, France, 24/09/2008 13:22
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