London female sales MD lands big job at bank women have been leaving
Seema Arora Instinet's head of execution sales for Europe has got a new job. It was reported last week that Arora is now head of execution sales for EMEA at Stifel instead. We wish the very best of luck in her new role.
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Arora's arrival comes at an interesting time. Stifel's London office has had a few issues with both its women and its men this year.
Some of the senior women there have been leaving. Eithne O'Leary, the female president of Stifel Europe and former head of the institutional group in London, departed in May this year and has seemingly yet to find a new job. O'Leary's exit was preceded by that of other senior women including Caroline Gulliver, a senior equity research analyst, Ramona Racz, an MD in distressed debt sourcing and sales and Kamilini (Gavender) Hull, head of growth capital, some of whom left in 2023.
Before O'Leary left, she ordered an investigation into the behaviour of some of Stifel's men. It was reported in May that two senior men at Stifel had been accused of gross misconduct after allegedly having "sexual liaisons" with the office cleaner at night. Both have left the firm, although it appears that they may have resigned in order to avoid getting a black mark from the regulator.
Stifel's gender pay gap in London is especially vast. Last year, men occupied 94% of the jobs in the highest paid quartile there.
Arora's arrival may do something to remedy this. It's not clear how much she's being paid, however. Instinet is thought to have paid zero bonuses this year and there were unconfirmed suggestions that Arora was let go. The FCA Register shows her leaving Instinet in May.
Stifel didn't respond to a request to comment.
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