Barclays Capital has hired Kevin Roach, a senior utilities analyst. He joins from Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown after working at that firm since May. The hiring of Roach, an Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Research Team runner-up in 2000, follows the recent addition of Mark Pibl, a top-ranked energy analyst from Merrill Lynch, who was brought in to lead Barclays' U.S. investment grade research effort (BW, 7/16).
Barclays has made no secret of its plans to build up its U.S. fixed-income business, with Pibl saying that he plans to hire six more senior investment-grade analysts and six more junior analysts within the next half-year, if not sooner. He plans to focus on hires within the banking and financial institution areas, as well as the industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Due to contractual obligations, Roach, who Pibl says has already resigned from Deutsche Banc, will not begin work at Barclays until October. Roach could not be reached for comment. He will report to Pibl and be based in New York.
Roach is the latest of several senior hires Barclays has made from Deutsche this year. In May, Barclays hired 11 people from Deutsche's debt capital markets group. A Deutsche spokesman says the firm remains committed to its utilities business, and is actively seeking a replacement for Roach.
Some fixed-income observers noted that one of the bankers who left in May, James Glascott, followed a similar trajectory to Roach, coming from Morgan Stanley, staying for a very brief time, and heading to Barclays. That is pure coincidence, according to a Deutsche source, who says that relationships were a factor in the first case, while Barclays' "open checkbook" caused Roach's exit.
John Stathis, Barclays' head of global market sales and the person who hired Pibl, disputes the "open checkbook" statement, and says Barclays' commitment to building its business it the main reason for its recruiting success. "Obviously we have an initiative to hire people. Are we compensating people appropriately? Absolutely. That doesn't mean money's not an object for us."