The Battle for Bankers After Brexit Is Heating Up

(Bloomberg) --

Bank of America Corp. has hired traders from rivals Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG for its new European hub in Paris as it moves some trading operations away from London in the wake of Brexit.

The U.S. bank appointed equity sales trader Mickael Chouraqui this month from Credit Suisse, while Michael Voltz joined in June from Morgan Stanley's cash equities trading team, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing information that isn't public.

Christine Majdalani, who has worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., recently joined the French office as a director in cash equities trading, according to the person, while the firm also recently relocated Hubert Dhers from London to Paris to be chief risk officer, according to his Linkedin profile. Bank of America declined to comment on the hires.

The appointments are the latest in a string of senior moves to the bank's expanded operations in the French capital. Bank of America opened its new offices a stone's throw from the Champs-Elysees earlier this year and expects to have about 400 people there by the end of 2019, despite the lingering uncertainty of the U.K.'s departure from the EU, which is currently scheduled for the end of October.

“The biggest move to Paris has been Bank of America,” said Denis Marcadet, a recruiter at Paris-based Vendome Associes. “It was a smart move by them to start early before the rush -- they have been able to cherry-pick a lot of quality people.”

Read More: HSBC, BofA, Goldman All Look to Paris as Part of Brexit Planning

BofA Securities SA, the bank's Paris-based subsidiary, started trading for European clients in the first quarter. The move is part of its planning for a possible hard Brexit, which could block London banks from conducting business with European clients through so-called passporting rights.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viren Vaghela in London at vvaghela1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Marion Dakers, Keith Campbell

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