Equities professionals are leaving BNP Paribas despite booming revenues
Just because the business you work for just generated its highest revenues for 18 years, don't presume your job is safe.
The equities sales and trading business at French bank BNP Paribas had a record first quarter. And yet it is still parting company with senior staff.
It's understood that Jonathan O'Keefe, the bank's head of sales trading and execution prime brokerage relationships, is leaving the bank.
His exit follows those of Brian Gallagher, the head of European execution and Jason Yates, the head of APAC execution, in the first quarter.
O'Keefe previously spent 13 years as the head of European sales trading at Exane. BNP had a 17-year partnership and 50% stake in Exane before acquiring the remaining 50% in 2021. It then acquired Deutsche Bank's prime finance and electronic equities business in 2022 and made various hires from Credit Suisse in 2023.
There are suggestions that the Exane integration may not be going as intended and that its high-touch cash equities business doesn't fit with BNP's historic derivatives focus. There are also suggestions that bonuses were disappointing as a result. It probably doesn't help that market intelligence firm Tricumen says operating revenues per employee at BNP's equities business are some of the worst in the industry.
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