Money Markets
By JOHN GACHIRI, jgachiri@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Stockbroker hires five from African Alliance to boost its equity and debt desks.
Stockbroker Kestrel Capital has raided one of its top competitors in the latest high-profile fight for talent.
The market intermediary has poached five staff
from African Alliance Investment Bank’s equity, bonds desks and
operations department.
Chief executive Andre DeSimone declined to comment
on the issue, saying the firm is yet to conclude the latest
recruitment drive.
“I have no comment on this one,” Mr DeSimone told the Business Daily.
Industry insiders said there was still a senior African Alliance
staffer—who did not respond to our queries—expected to join the five but
is yet to clear.
This is the second time in less than three years African Alliance Investment Bank is being raided by its competitors.
Standard Investment Bank poached Francis Mwangi and Eric Musau, two experienced research analysts, in July 2011.
Around the same time Faida Investment Bank had
taken six traders from African Alliance’s trading desk including Lucas
Otieno, who was then managing director at the pan-African investment
bank.
Poaching of top talent is, however, not exclusive
to African Alliance. Standard Investment Bank recruited two traders
from Sterling Capital in July 2011.
Renaissance Capital, a Russian-owned investment bank, suffered a similar setback in 2008 when it was raided by Equity Bank in a clean sweep that included then chief executive Maina Mwangi for its new subsidiary, Equity Investment Bank.
The relationship-based nature of the business
often means that when brokers and analysts move, they take their
business or clients with them.
This has resulted in stockbrokers not shying away
from opening cheque books to woo star talent that can attract business
especially from institutional and high-net worth investors.
Published results show that Kestrel Capital raked
in Sh480 million in revenues in 2013 while African Alliance made Sh447
million. Dyer & Blair Investment Bank was the top earner with Sh877
million in revenues.
Investment bank and stockbrokers are also willing
to pay a premium for staff that can also attract foreign investors who
do majority of trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Human resource consultants say the finance
industry is expected to see a fluid and vibrant labour market due to a
high demand for technical skills
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