An unseasonal game of musical chairs

In the past couple of weeks there have been some significant changes at a number of major banks, such as JP Morgan and Standard Chartered. Others including UBS are also understood to be revaluating operations, particularly affecting the Asia-Pacific region. This could see some trading movement from Singapore to Tokyo.

The consistent and frequent re-emergence of trading, sales and structuring staff from one bank to another, also demonstrates the shortage of FX talent in the industry amid a desire by previously more dormant players to get a slice of the ever-growing FX pie. It indicates the premium many banks are willing to pay to hire teams from their rivals. Earlier this year, Bank of America (BoA) haemorrhaged staff, with many resurfacing at Credit Suisse for example. Unfortunately it seems BoA's woes haven't yet stopped, with a further two in sales and strategy leaving.

Last week, UniCredit picked the bones of JP Morgan's carcass, so to speak, and recruited Toby Angel to work in hedge fund sales in London. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse hired Christina Makiguchi to lead their multi-asset Algo/DMA business, from Morgan Stanley where she ran their Asia eFX business.

But it's not only banks who are targeting each other for staff. Increasingly trading platforms are being hit left, right and centre by banks looking to develop technology capabilities. FXall for example has had to hire 22 new sales, customer services and technology staff this year to cover departures, in a number of cases to banks.

Examples include Andrew Banhidi, who left the company to join Merrill Lynch at the end of last year after joining eight months earlier. Jennifer Mihocko-Tierney, director of US e-commerce at Barclays Capital in New York, also formerly worked for FXall. At the multi-bank platform, Mihocko-Tierney worked as senior director, relationship management for the platform in New York.

Although a lot of the activity appears to be taking place in New York, Tokyo and London, we can't forget changes taking place in Moscow. Investment bank Renaissance Capital has been undergoing a massive hiring spree, pulling in some significant names. These include Gordon McCulloch, formerly co-head of Goldman Sachs in Moscow, as managing director in the institutional securities group.