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Bankers Rush To The Exits
2009年3月14日
The exodus has begun.
A number of prominent investment bankers are fleeing major Wall Street institutions amid a bracing economic outlook, increased public scrutiny of their pay and mounting turmoil in their own offices.
Wall Street has announced tens of thousands of layoffs since the financial crisis worsened this fall. But most firms have managed to hold on to their top 'rainmakers' -- veteran bankers with relationships that brought in revenues for bond deals, mergers and stock offerings.
That has begun to change, as the government's intervention in the financial sector has begun to spell the end of the freewheeling, big-paycheck culture that pervaded the firms.
The past week alone has seen the announcement of several high-profile departures: Jean Manas, head of Americas M&A for Deutsche Bank; Deutsche Bank media banker Fehmi Zeko; Goldman Sachs Group partner Joseph Ravitch; and UBS managing director Jeff Sine. They follow a parade of other senior bankers who have recently left big firms, including Robert Scully at Morgan Stanley, former UBS Vice Chairman Robert Gillespie, and George Ackert, the former head of Merrill Lynch's transportation group.
In London, the exodus of talent has been no less acute than in New York. At Bank of America, for example, where bankers are grappling with both the financial downturn and a tumultuous takeover of Merrill Lynch, a raft of senior Merrill bankers have jumped ship. Many of them, including Mark Aedy, the recently named head of corporate and investment banking for Europe who was close to such blue-chip Merrill investment-banking clients as miner BHP Billiton, have left without another job lined up.
Some of the refugees are seeking to join boutiques firms, such as Evercore, Greenhill or Centerview Partners, while others are getting out of the game altogether.
For some, the motivation to leave is the same one that drew them to Wall Street in the first place: money.
In the past, many of these bankers would have been locked in place with stock options, accumulated after years of toiling from junior analyst to managing director. History is now of little concern as many firms are remade or wiped out by mergers, and stock options are mostly worthless. The market's collapse has also laid bare tensions between traders who generated most of the firms' outsize profits -- and losses -- over the past five years and the advisers who weren't risking firm capital.
'I still believe in the investment-banking business, but it has become a bit of a boat anchor, in that there doesn't seem to be a difference between an advisory banker who generates fees without capital and a [proprietary] trader whose job is like going to the casino every day,' said one senior banker who is still constrained by agreements with his former firm.
Adds Alan Johnson of Wall Street compensation-consulting firm Johnson Associates, 'At the moment, no one can tell bankers whether they will or won't get paid for the work they do in 2009. It will get worse the longer this goes on.'
Bankers at closely held firms have been spared the ire faced by employees of banks that have received public support. But boutiques aren't a total safe haven. Bankers there are paid almost entirely by 'eating what they kill,' while the larger Wall Street firms have historically offered somewhat lower, but more consistent, pay.
'Deutsche Bank has and will weather the storm better than most, but at this stage in my life the private model is a better opportunity for success,' Mr. Zeko said.
Reversing the brain drain could take time. Wall Street firms fired many midlevel bankers in 2001 and 2002, forcing senior bankers to stay longer. As a result, there isn't a big corps of up-and-comers to replace the veterans, many of whom are already wealthy and can easily retire.
At UBS, one banker recently complained that his staff's bonuses were sharply cut after the bank had already set aside money the prior nine months.
Survivors say these actions have poisoned the atmosphere at many banks. 'I don't feel like I'm a manager when we ask for all the work and we give them no rewards,' said the senior banker who recently decamped.
高级人才逃离华尔街大机构
大出逃已经开始了。
在经济前景收紧、公众对高管薪酬审查逾加严格、办公室内的动荡也日渐升级的情况下，许多著名投资银行家纷纷逃离华尔街大机构。
自去年秋季金融危机恶化以来，华尔街裁员人数达到数万人。但大多数公司都设法留住了自己的顶级“价值创造者”－－经验丰富的银行家，他们拥有强大关系网络，能带来债券承销、并购及股票发行的收入。
Rob Shepperson
这种情况已经开始发生变化，因为政府对金融领域的干预已经开始终结这类公司普遍存在的那种不受约束的高薪文化。
仅过去一周就有好几个人高调宣布离职：德意志银行美洲并购业务主管玛纳斯、德银媒体银行家泽柯，高盛集团合伙人拉维奇和瑞士银行董事总经理辛恩。在他们之前已经有一大堆资深银行家最近离开了大公司，包括摩根士丹利的斯考利、瑞银前任副董事长吉斯派尔和美林运输类投资前任主管阿克特。
伦敦的人才流失程度丝毫不逊于纽约。以美国银行为例，在银行家们忙于应对金融危机和一片混乱的美林收购交易时，一大批美林高层就已经逃之夭夭了。其中许多人都是在还没找到下家的时候离职的，其中包括刚刚被任命为欧洲公司和投资银行业务主管的埃迪，他与矿业公司必和必拓这类美林的高价值投行客户关系密切。
一部分离开原公司的人试图加入Evercore、Greenhill或是Centerview Partners这类新兴的小公司，还有一部分人则完全退出了这个行业。
对于有的人来说，离开的动机与最初吸引他们来到华尔街的理由一样：为了钱。
过去，许多银行家用了很多年时间辛辛苦苦地从初级分析师爬到董事总经理级别，在这个过程中累积了大量的股票期权，也因此而被困在自己的职位上脱身不得。如今，过去的经历已经不重要了，因为许多公司都经过了重组或并购，股票期权基本上也一文不值了。市场的崩溃让过去五年里为公司创造巨额利润和巨幅亏损的交易员们与没有拿公司资金冒险的投资顾问之间的关系空前紧张。
一位仍然受到与前公司所签协议限制的资深银行家说，我还是相信投资银行业务，但这块业务变得像虽然保留却已经没有多大用处的东西了。投资顾问无需动用资本就能为公司带来收入，而有自主权的交易员每天都像拿着公司的钱赌博，但现在两者之间似乎已经没有区别了。
华尔街薪酬咨询公司Johnson Associates的约翰逊说，现在，没有人能告诉银行家们，他们在2009年所做的工作能不能得到回报。现在的状况持续时间越长，形势就会越糟糕。
少数人持股公司的银行家们得以幸免于公开上市银行的雇员们所遭遇的公众怒火。但小公司也不完全是安全港。小公司的银行家们的薪水几乎完全是“自食其力”，而规模较大的金融公司往往都提供相对低一些但更为稳定的薪酬。
泽柯说，德银一直以来都比大多数公司更能经受危机考验，将来也会如此，但对当前的我来说，私营模式是一个更好的成功机会。
扭转这种人才流失的局面需要时间。2001-2002年，华尔街公司解雇了大批中层职员，迫使高层银行家们留下来。结果，现在没有多少能够取代老一辈的后来者，他们中的许多人已经身家富足，可以轻松退休了。
瑞士银行的一位银行家最近抱怨说，瑞银前九个月已经留出了发奖金的钱，但他手下员工的奖金还是被大幅削减。
幸存者说，这类举措损害了许多银行的气氛。不久前离开瑞银的那位高层银行家说，我们要求手下干活，却不给他们任何奖励，我觉得自己真不像是个经理。
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发表于 2016-8-12 16:30:35