By Ben Wright, Max Colchester and Richard Partington
It is becoming a familiar rite of passage for London-based
investment bankers.
An increasingly steady stream of deal makers has entered public
service to help the U.K. government in its continuing effort to
deal with the fallout of a banking crisis which saw taxpayers pump
over GBP100 billion ($1.66 billion) into the sector. Among the
banks that have lost the most brainpower to this trend are two
Swiss banks: Credit Suisse and UBS.
The most recent "loss" is Ewen Stevenson, formerly the co-head
of Credit Suisse's investment bank in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. He was today unveiled as the new chief financial officer of
Royal Bank of Scotland, the U.K. government-controlled lender.
Chris Wheeler, banks analyst at Mediobanca, suggested that Mr.
Stevenson's move, after a 25-year career with Credit Suisse, was
akin to "public service" in helping RBS recover from the financial
crisis.
While in the U.S. there is a long track record of bankers
heading into government, in the U.K. this is a relatively new
phenomenon. In recent years the British government has increasingly
looked to tap private sector know-how for advice on a range of
issues, says Giles Williams, a partner in KPMG's regulatory
services practice. Meanwhile for bankers it offers the chance to
burnish their CV. It "gives them an opportunity to see things
through a different lens," he says.
Mr. Stevenson's departure follows the appointment of James
Leigh-Pemberton, who had previously been chief executive of Credit
Suisse's U.K. business, as the chairman of U.K. Financial
Investments, the body that manages the government's stakes in
bailed-out banks, last September. Mediobanca's Mr. Wheeler said
that the Credit Suisse connection was probably part of the appeal
of Mr. Stevenson for RBS: "They [Mr. Stevenson and Mr.
Leigh-Pemberton] will have sat on the same exec committee at Credit
Suisse, so [Mr. Stevenson] has some very strong contacts [at
UKFI]."
The two Credit Suisse bankers were on the team that advised HM
Treasury on the stabilization of the U.K. banking sector in 2008.
This included work on the recapitalization of RBS and Lloyds
Banking Group.
Among the other UKFI board members is Philip Remnant who once
was vice chairman of Credit Suisse in Europe. He was also
previously chairman of the U.K. Government's Shareholder Executive,
a division of its Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
that oversees state-owned enterprises.
Mr. Leigh-Pemberton replaced Jim O'Neil, who rejoined Bank of
AmericaMerrill Lynch, and Robin Budenberg, a former senior
executive at UBS investment bank, who was chief executive and then
chairman of the UKFI for four years before retiring in January.
Christopher Fox was appointed the head of banking at the UKFI in
the January management shuffle. He previously headed U.K. banks
coverage at UBS while Lucinda Riches, another of UKFI's board
members, worked at UBS and its predecessor companies for 21 years
rising to become the Swiss bank's global head of equity capital
markets.
UBS was involved in advising the U.K. government in the days
leading up to the bank bailout before Credit Suisse was appointed
the official adviser in the aftermath.
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse has moved fast to plug the gap left by
Mr. Stevenson's departure. He will be replaced by Mark Echlin,
co-head of the bank's global industrials group and longtime adviser
to Glencore, and will work alongside Mr. Stevenson's former co-head
Marisa Drew.
Write to Ben Wright at ben.wright@wsj.com, Max Colchester at
max.colchester@wsj.com and Richard Partington at
rpartington@efinancialnews.com
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