Boutique firms continue hiring from larger rivals
Online Financial News
15.09.09
The recruitment roundabout among independent mid-market securities and advisory firms continues to spin on both sides of the Atlantic with Conduit Capital Markets and Reynolds Partners making fresh appointments from larger rivals, the latest of a slew of hires in the boutique sector this year.
Conduit Capital Markets, the mid-market derivatives and securities dealer founded two years ago by a former head of derivative sales and marketing at Royal Bank of Scotland, has hired a new chief financial officer from larger broker Knight Equity Markets International, while Reynolds has hired a new head of structured finance, who was previously at Deutsche Bank.
Rakesh Chhabra, a former finance manager at KEMI responsible for corporate accounting, joins Conduit in London, reporting to Paul Morgan, chief executive and founder. Meanwhile, Stuart Macfarlane, former chief operating officer of structured capital markets at Deutsche Bank, has joined Reynolds to run its structured finance unit.
Reynolds left Deutsche Bank in January last year, according to the UK Financial Services Authority register. His hire is the latest the boutique investment bank has made since May when it brought in Tim Hammond, the former head of investments and joint ventures at national airline British Airways, to lead its new transport section.
In a statement from Reynolds, Macfarlane, said: "We will be offering tailored tax advice as an integral part of the existing advisory work mandated to Reynolds, as well as offering bespoke structured financing and investment transactions to third-party investors."
Conduit's hire of Chhabra is also the latest it has made to its business in the past few months, including a head of fixed-income sales in July.
Both hires from part of a broader trend among a growing band of independent firms, which have taken advantage of the fallout in the investment banking industry in the past couple of years by picking-up senior staff on competitive compensation levels.