Société Générale’s corporate and investment banking division in London is understood to have lost its ninth corporate derivatives banker in six months with the departure of a specialist covering Greek clients last week.
Dimitrios Planiotis, who covered the Greek corporate sector for the investment bank, resigned last Thursday in the latest of string of bankers to have left its European corporate derivatives coverage team since March, according to Financial Services Authority records. It is not known whether Planiotis is joining another bank.
Other departures include Fraser Dixon and Florence Loras, who both covered UK companies, and former German corporate coverage bankers Bernard Fievet and Hendrick Sperling.
Dixon has joined JP Morgan, Loras and Fievet have moved to French rival BNP Paribas while Sperling is set to join UBS following his resignation in mid-July. All four have joined their new banks with a similar remit.
In addition, Tamas Haiman left to join Barclays Capital, covering companies in emerging market countries throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa.
According to headhunting sources, at least three other specialists from the team covering clients in Italy, Spain and Benelux have left in the "last few months".
While the departures will have been a blow to Société Générale, the moves reflect the heightened competition between banks to hire talent in one of the fastest growing and most lucrative areas of corporate finance and fixed-income capital markets.
RIval banks have suffered similar staff turnover over the same period.
A spokesman for the Société Générale CIB in London said: "SG is known for its excellence in the corporate derivatives business, which generally speaking is a competitive area in terms of recruitment."
He added: "Our turnover in this field is standard when compared to the market. Since the beginning of the year we have recruited, or are in the process of doing so, and will continue to build on our excellence in this field."
The moves come amid difficult times for investment banks after months when turmoil in the credit markets has left some nursing heavy losses.
On Monday, Société Générale’s chief financial officer, Frederic Oueda, warned of lower quarterly investment banking revenues as a result of difficult market conditions but maintained its 2007 to 2008 financial targets.
At a Lehman Brothers investor conference in New York, Oueda said although it is too early to give a global picture “it is likely that revenues in corporate and investment banking will be lower in the third quarter” compared with the same period the year before.
He added the bank expects a low contribution from trading, which generally represents a third of the investment banking division revenues, as it had reduced trading positions to contain risk.
However, Société Générale maintained its 2007 to 2008 targets for organic growth on risk-weighted assets of between 10% and 15% a year, a post-tax return on equity of 20% and a dividend payout of 45% in the medium term.
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