BNP Paribas MD sat out of booming market for the sake of his wife
BNP Paribas became the first European bank to announce its results this morning. Its corporate and investment bank (CIB) had a "record-breaking quarter" with standout performance in equity and prime services. Bloomberg notes that BNP's equities revenues were at their highest level for 18 years. One key member of the equities franchise was absent, though.
Who is your Ideal Employer in finance? 💥 Answer our survey for a chance to win $1k
Writing on LinkedIn, Mike Bayley, BNP's head of equity derivatives solutions, institutions and distribution for the UK, says he's been on sabbatical for six months while his wife addressed an unnamed health issue from which she is fully recovered. As of this week, he's back at work. "Thought about adapting a recent Trump quote, to express opportunity in volatile times, but couldn’t come up with anything compliant...," he quips.
BNP said today that record revenues in its equities business rose 42% year-on-year in the first quarter, driven by prime services, cash equities, equity derivatives and structured products. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley reported similar increases of 47% and 45%, while Bank of America lagged with an increase in equities revenues of only 17%.
Across its CIB as a whole, BNP Paribas said revenues increased at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% between 2020 and 2024, compared to 3% for the market as a whole. As revenues have risen, BNP has kept a tight grip on costs, which were 56% of CIB revenues in Q1, down from 60% for the whole of last year.
BNP's positive jaws come despite hiring. Bayley joined BNP from SocGen in 2021. He's very far from BNP's only equities hire in recent years: BNP also acquired the entirety of Exane in 2021, Deutsche Bank's entire prime finance and electronic equities business in 2022 and teams from Credit Suisse in 2023. The prime services team in particular, managed by Ashley Wilson, is likely to have been a significant revenue contributor amid recent volatility. So too are ex-Deutsche Bank equities traders Yani Liu and Ryan O'Sullivan.
Some BNP insiders have whinged about the more aggressive culture introduced by the ex-Deutsche Bank hires. Today's results suggest they should be glad of their thrusting new colleagues: at Citi, where there are belated attempts to grow the prime business, equities revenues rose only 23% in the first quarter.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libellous (in which case it won’t.)
