Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies chasing same people in Frankfurt

Strictly speaking, this is not the right time of the year for a hiring spree in Frankfurt. Not only have European banks like Deutsche yet to announce bonuses for 2021, but the Frankfurt jobs market is hostage to the strange German employment contracts that link three-month notice periods to the end of the last quarter. Once bonuses have been paid, this means Frankfurt resignations happen mid-year. Even so, we're already witnessing a flurry of resignations and hiring in January.

That flurry is focused on equities sales staff. In the past few weeks, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies have all made significant additions to their Frankfurt teams. 

Jefferies annnounced its big new Frankfurt hire today. It's recruited Johannes Kirchmeir from Morgan Stanley to be its head of equities execution services for the whole of Continental Europe, based out of Frankfurt.  Kirchmeir spent eight years at MS and was latterly an executive director. He joins Jefferies as an MD.

Kirchmeir isn't the only executive director on the move in Germany. Goldman Sachs has also poached Dominik Schubert, a former director of institutional sales at DJE Capital in Munich. Schubert joins Goldman as an ED in Frankfurt. 

And Morgan Stanley recently rehired Sara Woerner from Goldman Sachs as its Frankfurt-based head of cash equity execution for Continental Europe. 

The moves come as the European Central Bank prepares to clampdown on post-Brexit practices like back-to-back trading, which have enabled banks to keep most of their trading staff in London, even while sales staff are shifted to European financial centres. The spate of Frankfurt sales hires suggests that banks in Germany haven't finished building their sales presence, even as pressure to add local traders grows. 

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