Within the investment front-office environment, a noteworthy development has surfaced in recent weeks.
A considerable number of individuals employed at the collapsed Credit Suisse, who were previously alerted to the prospect of redundancy earlier in the year during March and April, have now received formal notifications regarding their impending termination. We are now witnessing the tangible impact of this situation on affected individuals and the industry at large.
For specific details see:
- https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ubs-cut-more-than-half-credit-suisse-workforce-bloomberg-news-2023-06-27/
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-27/ubs-preparing-to-cut-more-than-half-of-credit-suisse-workforce
Additionally, further news flow continues to emerge, pointing toward the ongoing consolidation within the industry, significantly affecting all front-office and client-facing operations. The most recent examples of which include the now evidently hostile takeover of GAM by Liontrust, and within the wealth space, Rathbones’ acquisition of Investec’s wealth business unit. Most of these transactions are premised on the basis of asset and client accumulation with a promise to cut costs through process automation and headcount rationalisation.
For specific details see:
- https://www.gam.com/en/news-articles/press-releases/corporate/liontrust-to-acquire-gam-holding-ag
- https://www.ftadviser.com/companies/2023/07/07/liontrust-shareholders-approve-gam-acquisition/
- https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2023/04/04/rathbones-and-investec-wealth-merge-to-create-100bn-business/
- https://www.investec.com/content/dam/investor-relations/presentations-and-announcements/Rathbones-announcement.pdf
As a result of this market consolidation activity, individuals in both target and acquiring companies are likely to experience personal impact and vulnerability, leading them to seek alternative opportunities. It is a fallacy to assume that only individuals in the target company are impacted and vulnerable to job loss – thus even top talent in the predatory company will likely start considering their options, as no one wants to go through a process of limbo and uncertainty.
Further compounding challenges in the industry, there still appears to be no end in sight to additional regulatory and compliance obligations being foisted on the financial services industry by either the UK or European regulatory authorities. Faced with the introduction of additional regulatory pressures companies have little choice but to add resources to middle and back-office (1st or 2nd LoD) to enhance their compliance, operational, and investment risk capacity to comply with these evolving requirements. Recruitment budget allocations are therefore routed to risk and compliance priorities instead of front-office roles that do not come with significant consequences if not implemented correctly.
For organisations seeking to acquire top-quality talent, now presents an opportune moment to engage with us.
Here at Coopman, we have access to a pool of impacted professionals who are actively looking to transition swiftly within this low-risk bid environment. We possess intimate knowledge of the markets and are extensively connected to all the senior role players at both candidate and hiring manager level.
