Citi's head of euro swaps trading quit amidst claims of Paris move for team

Jason Cohen, the head of euro swaps trading at Citi, is understood to have left the bank amidst rumours that half his team is being moved to Paris.

Cohen, who had been at Citi since 2008, is thought to have quit in the past few days. Citi declined to comment and Cohen didn't respond to an enquiry as to his whereabouts.

Sources say that Cohen's exit came as a large chunk of his London team is being primed to move to Paris in preparation for Brexit. Citi has offices in Amsterdam, Dublin, Madrid, Milan, Frankfurt and Paris in preparation for life when the UK leaves the EU. Last November, the Financial Times reported that the bank was looking for a bigger Paris office after London staff lobbied to be moved to the French capital instead of to Frankfurt. Citi doesn't appear to have been successful in this quest; its French global markets business is still based on Rue Balzac in the 8th arrondissement.  

As well as moving staff from London, Citi is said to be hiring rates traders in Paris. However, there is little sign of this recruitment on its own jobs website, which simply contains an assortment of junior positions for students.

In October 2017, Citi said it was planning to move 63 jobs to Frankfurt (after initially saying it would move 250 jobs to Europe). In March 2019, the bank said its Frankfurt hub was up and running, with no plans to shift more staff imminently. If a hard Brexit takes place at the end of October, all banks in London are expected to shift some sales and trading staff to European offices overnight in order to continue serving EU-based clients.

Zoeb Sachee is said to have taken over from Cohen as head of European swaps trading at Citi, alongside his other role as head of European government and SSA trading. It's thought that Cohen may be heading for the buy-side.

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