A 50% cut in bonuses is reportedly to blame for prompting half of Goldman Sachs' convertible arbitrage trading desk in New York to quit over the last month, according to market officials. Trader Alex Lache recently became the third member of the team to depart. Lache left the firm to join Camden Asset Management, a hedge fund in Los Angeles, to fill a similar position. Bruce Corwin, spokesman at Goldman Sachs in New York, declined comment.
Since January, Goldman Sachs has seen the departure of Lache, Andrew Barnard, head of the U.S. trading operation, and trader Quincy Evans, who left to help spearhead the launch of a convertible arbitrage trading desk at CDC Ixis Capital Markets in New York (DW, 2/18). Barnard reportedly earned a USD1.2 million bonus in 2000, while Lache received about USD750,000 and Evans earned about USD50,000. Market officials said Evans didn't get a bonus this year. Lache, Barnard and Evans all declined to comment.
