BNP Paribas made some changes after debatable bonuses

Last Friday, BNP Paribas announced its bonuses. This Tuesday, we are hearing that there has been at least one senior exit from the French bank. It is not clear whether the two things are related. 

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Sources say that John Hanisch, the head of US flow credit and global head of US securitized product trading at BNP Paribas, is leaving. BNP is thought to be searching for a replacement. Hanisch joined BNP Paribas in 2022 from Hayfin Capital. He spent the previous 12 year at Deutsche Bank. 

The vanishing of Hanisch comes after BNP's bonuses appear to have been good, but not great. Some at the bank are complaining that both bonuses and salaries were held steady, despite inflation.

Hanisch didn't respond to a request to comment for this article. BNP Paribas declined to comment on either its bonuses or on Hanisch's departure. 

Bloomberg reported in early February that the bank intended to increase bonuses for its global markets division by 10% and sources say this came to pass, with FX and rates traders receiving the largest increases. However, BNP's investment bankers say their pool was relatively flat, with the biggest increases reserved for M&A bankers rather than financing professionals. 

As we noted when BNP announced its fourth quarter results, many of its businesses appeared to underperform the market. 

"You have a steady 25% of people at BNP Paribas who don't get paid well every year and this happened again," said one insider. In DCM, one mid-ranking BNP banker says he had an incredibly busy year, doing twice the number of deals as usual, and yet was paid the same. "My personal workload doubled but my pay rise was zero," he says. "They tell me I'm well paid, particularly compared to France but I'm not sure. It's ok here if you're part of the right circle, but if you're not in the right group it's very different and a lot of people are feeling that."  

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