Santander has approached several key bankers within Credit Suisse's investment banking division, as it moves to boost its investment banking presence in the US and elsewhere.
Santander is targeting a global hiring operation focused on the US, according to two sources, as Credit Suisse’s bankers wait to learn whether they will still have jobs after the forced takeover by UBS. Santander is looking to hire bankers from Credit Suisse teams including equity capital markets, leveraged finance, financial sponsors, investment bank sector coverage and the US distribution platform, the two sources said.
“The bank is making several hires,” one of the sources said. “But, characterising it as a lift-out or a group thing would be incorrect.”
The FT reported on Monday that Santander was talking to senior investment bankers at CS in New York and named David Hermer, the head of global capital markets, and Malcolm Price, global head of the financial sponsors group, as among those joining the Spanish bank.
Santander CFO Jose Garcia Cantera was asked by Bloomberg TV on April 25 about whether the bank was seeking to build up its investment bank by hiring from Credit Suisse. He declined to comment on specific hirings but said the corporate and investment bank has gained market share in recent years and was more profitable than many similar businesses at rival banks.
“We are always looking at ways to grow and develop our business and when we deploy capital inorganically, we do that without moving an inch from our strategy and that’s the way we’ve done it in the last couple of years and those decisions have been very profitable,” Garcia Cantera told Bloomberg TV.
The second source said Santander is looking selectively at professionals in other geographies but is unlikely to make as many hires as it is targeting in the US.
Moving slowly
With UBS’s plans for Credit Suisse’s investment banking division yet to emerge, some CS employees have started to move on after being approached by rivals or other banks looking to grow their market share in the US.
“UBS has moved slowly,” the first source said, noting the bank has yet to lock in Credit Suisse talent that could be lured to rivals. “There has been a splintering already.”
Picking up Credit Suisse employees could allow an investment bank seeking to expand its operations or grow market share to hit the ground running in the US, a process that otherwise may take years to achieve, the two sources said.
Some Credit Suisse bankers in Asia have left to join Macquarie, including the head of investment banking and capital markets in Australia, Dragi Ristevski. He will join Macquarie as the investment bank's head of financial sponsors for Asia Pacific.
UBS has announced plans to focus on its private wealth business, and layoffs are not expected to happen until after the merger closes in the next two months.
In March, UBS purchased its Swiss rival for US$3.3bn in a deal engineered by the government, the central bank and market regulator to avoid a meltdown in the country's financial system.
The merged bank could reduce its workforce by 20%–30%, according to Reuters citing Swiss media reports on April 2.
Some Credit Suisse bankers will be offered positions at UBS, though no contracts have been formally presented, according to the first source.
Other firms reaching out to Credit Suisse bankers include Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Mizuho, the first source said.
(Additional reporting by Steve Slater.)