Barrenjoey Raids UBS’ Australia Unit

Startup investment bank Barrenjoey continues to lure talent from UBS’ Australia unit with around ten executives leaving the Swiss bank in the latest wave of moves.

Multiple executives at UBS, including top analysts, have resigned to join Barrenjoey – an investment banking startup partly owned by Barclays and Magellan Financial Group – according to an Australian Financial Review report.

Those defecting include banking analyst Jon Mott; mining analyst Glyn Lawcock; the former two’s junior partners Dan Morgan and Minh Pham; gaming and transport analyst Matt Ryan; small caps specialist Josh Kannourakis; associate director of research Craig Stafford; and retail and consumer goods analyst Aryan Norozi.

In addition to analysts, the investment banking team has also been targeted with equities desk specialist Craig Webb set to join Barrenjoey alongside senior technology, media and industrials banker Luke Bentvelzen.

Even prior to the mass resignations on Monday, Barrenjoey had already been seeking ex-UBS talent in Australia. Barrenjoey senior managers formerly from UBS include ex-advisory and capital markets managing director Guy Fowler; ex-research head Chris Williams; ex-managing director Matt Hanning; ex-global co-head of flow rates and co-head of global markets Duncan Haig; and ex-senior trader George Kannan.

Ex-UBS Australia chief executive Matthew Grounds is also rumored to join the investment banking startup following the expiration of a non-compete clause.

In response to the exits, current UBS co-head of Australasia Nick Hughes said that the local unit had global banking and that it was committed to re-hiring and maintaining high competitiveness in the Australian investment banking sector, though he noted that rapid replacement of loss talent would be a challenge.