Goldman Sachs loses London macro team to hedge fund
A team of Goldman Sachs' top London macro salespeople are understood to have left weeks after bonuses were paid. It's understood they're joining a hedge fund.
Sources say that Nohshad Shah, Goldman's co-head of EMEA interest rates sales, is leaving the bank along with managing director Ishaan Sethi. It's thought that they're joining Marshall Wace, the London hedge fund, where Shah will be running the cross-asset macro team. Vice president Frank Flight is rumoured to be leaving Goldman too, but is thought to be joining Brevan Howard.
Marshall Wace didn't respond to a request to comment, and Goldman declined to comment on the moves.
The exits follow a strong year for Goldman's fixed income sales and trading business, with revenues increasing 44% in 2022. Goldman said the rise was driven by "significantly higher" net revenues across rates, FX and commodities trading. However, big losses in the consumer bank and dramatically lower revenues in equity and debt capital markets mean bonuses for fixed income traders didn't always reflect the rise in revenues.
Shah's exit is thought to have been motivated by more than just bonuses, though. Sources at the bank say he was hoping to be promoted to partner last November, but didn't make the list (nor did co-head Marco Branca).
Shah joined Goldman from Deutsche Bank in 2015, and subsequently hired Sethi. Flight joined Goldman in 2015 after graduating from Oxford.
Shah is understood to be close to Sam Morgan, the popular partner and head of FICC sales at Goldman in Europe, who chose Shah as his replacement when he took a broader role in 2018. He was responsible for a popular weekly podcast at Goldman (Macro Thoughts), which is presumably now at an end.
Deutsche Bank's macro traders also had an exceptional 2022. The German bank is said to have paid its rates traders very generously for last year.
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