A team of tech analysts have quit en masse at a City investment bank in the latest sign of turbulence.
Berenberg’s UK tech, media, and telecoms analysts all walked out and are set to move to rival Cantor Fitzgerald, City sources said.
It comes weeks after Berenberg lost its UK investment banking chief, who left the lender after eight years to join a company that provides flexible working spaces.
Last year, Berenberg slashed its UK and US headcount by 25pc and 50pc respectively following an exceptionally quiet year for boutique investment banks.
Stock market listings and equity raises – both big revenue drivers for companies like Berenberg – have dried up since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have yet to bounce back.
A darkening economic outlook and risk of recession this year have extended the drought.
Other smaller investment banks, including Numis, Peel Hunt, and finnCap, have also shrunk over the last year by cutting jobs or declining to replace departing staff as companies across the city tighten their belts.
Berenberg, which employs around 400 people in the Square Mile, sacked 14 of its 30 strong graduate class in December after hiring them less than three months earlier.
In March, The Telegraph revealed that the company was now hiring new junior employees just weeks after axing half of the last class.
A spokesman for Berenberg said it has hired more than 20 people in Britain so far this year for its investment bank, including recruiting a new head of mergers and acquisitions.
The spokesman added: “2022 was a tough year for us and the industry, but we moved early to right size our cost base for the more difficult environment. We are seeing the benefits of this now as other banks begin their own cost reduction measures.
“We are happy with the way we have performed in 2023 so far across the investment bank, as well as our corporate banking (a beneficiary of rising interest rates) and wealth and asset management businesses.”
Despite being hit by a prolonged dealmaking drought, Berenberg still posted profits of £55m last year thanks to its cost cutting drive.
David Mortlock, Berenberg’s managing partner, took home €20m (£16.6m) in 2021 after the company recorded the best twelve months in its 433-year history.
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Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-analysts-quit-en-masse-151512704.html