Eat-What-You-Kill Brokers Starved After Bank Bailout
This article is for subscribers only.
Bond-trading boutiques are being squeezed out of the market as Wall Street’s biggest banks recover from the financial crisis that caused almost $2 trillion in losses worldwide.
BTIG LLC, an equities broker that hired 75 debt traders and salespeople in 2009, has lost at least 42 fixed-income staff in the past year, regulatory records show. Chapdelaine & Co. is seeking a buyer to stem a staff exodus after a deal announced in April to raise capital broke down, said people familiar with the matter. LaBranche & Co. in New York shut its debt-trading operations in July, informing clients in an 11-word e-mail.