ANZ Singapore credit trading team poached by rival

A highly profitable business, ANZ is now faced with having to restaff its Singapore-based credit trading business after an en-masse walk out of staff after Standard Chartered poached traders.

ANZ’s Singapore credit trading team has been poached. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Global banking major Standard Chartered has poached most of ANZ’s Singapore-based credit trading team in an en-masse walkout from the troubled bank in the wake of a tough bonus season.

Sources told The Australian most of ANZ’s Singapore credit traders announced their resignation on Monday, with sources suggesting the loss is set to leave the bank with a $70m hole.

ANZ’s Asian credit business was a standout for the bank, with the loss of a number of veteran traders leaving the bank set to fight it out with other rivals for skilled staff in a tight market.

The movement in ANZ Singapore comes amid a jostling of other banks in the market for staff, with Barclays, Jeffries, and UBS recruiting.

An ANZ spokesman declined to comment.

Standard Chartered’s Singapore operation is among the biggest offshore subsidiaries for the British-based bank, with sources noting the group had tempted traders amid expectation for flat bonuses in years ahead.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to comment.

Sources said the move to leave the bank came after many credit traders were disappointed by their bonuses, in the wake of a damaging scandal around ANZ’s markets business.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is running the ruler over ANZ’s markets business, amid allegations of market manipulation in its Sydney trading team.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority also hit ANZ with a $250m capital penalty over “non-financial risks”, in the wake of revelations over ASIC’s investigation.

In response to the scandal, ANZ slashed the bonuses of its senior executives and figures in its Institutional & Corporate Banking team with oversight of the markets business.

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott saw his bonus slashed by $1.4m in response to APRA’s penalty, with the CEO further giving up a $3.2m award at the bank’s annual general meeting in December.

Key credit traders set to leave ANZ in the wake of Standard Chartered’s entreaties include Ming Wo who, in a post on LinkedIn, noted he was leaving the bank “with a heavy heart”.

Duncan Robinson and Adam Hall have also left ANZ’s credit team, with sources suggesting trader Timothy Teh was also set to leave.

Sources said many traders in the ANZ credit business were furious over the scandal engulfing the broader markets business.

The loss of several key figures in ANZ’s markets business has seen heavyweights within the business, including Trevor Vail who is both Credit Trading global head and Fixed Income Trading head, pivot to focus on the under siege Australian operations.

Sources said the loss of ANZ’s Singapore credit desk, among the best performing parts of the bank’s markets business, showed “no confidence in the Singapore management”.

These sources said it was likely further figures in ANZ markets would soon leave as a consequence of the strife in the bank, naming members of the bank’s Asian sales team.

ANZ’s Singapore team is almost 800-strong, with the bank celebrating its 50th anniversary in the market last year.

Sources said the Singapore business has increasingly dominated ANZ’s markets business, with Singapore-based global head of markets Anshul Sidher elevated to replace Shayne Collins, who left the bank to join Commonwealth Bank as its Institutional Banking and Markets chief risk officer in July 2023.

Mr Sidher, along with Melbourne-based Corporate and Institutional bank boss Mark Whelan will be forced to grapple with the issues hanging over ANZ this year, with Oliver Wyman consultants running a ruler over the bank as part of APRA’s supervision order.

A report into the markets business is set to be handed to the bank and APRA in coming months.

ASIC is also set to decide soon on a number of cases the regulator is considering against ANZ, including potential action over failures in the retail bank as well as the issues highlighted in the markets business.

ASIC chair Joe Longo said the regulator is looking to make a decision on its ANZ cases by the first half of 2025.

This includes allegations traders in the markets business manipulated the government bond market, ahead of a $14bn placement in April 2023.

ANZ is also alleged to have provided incorrect data to the Australian Office of Financial Management, the agency charged with issuing government debt, with sources suggesting the overly optimistic figures were an attempt to ensure the bank retained prime position in government debt deals.

As revealed in The Australian, ANZ concocted a strategy to dominate the government bond market, in a bid to head off challengers Westpac and Barrenjoey, and ensure access to $100m in syndicate fees.

However, sources suggested ANZ’s strategy saw the bank run up almost $50m in losses, with a weak sales team worsening the bank’s position.

ANZ, once a key participant in the government bond market, has been largely sidelined from state and federal debt deals in the wake of ASIC’s investigation.

The AOFM is planning to issues its first government debt deals in coming days, with two deals worth $1.1bn currently out for tender.

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Originally published as ANZ Singapore credit trading team poached by rival