Senior equity researchers keep leaving for the buy-side

It's not too late. You can still leave your equity research job with an investment bank and get a job on the buy-side instead. Just ask researchers at UBS in London and Goldman Sachs in New York City who have lately done just that.

In London, Peter Larkin, an equity research analyst who covered the transport sector at Citi until October 2019, has just resurfaced as a portfolio manager for large cap European equities at asset management firm Amundi. In his new role, Larkin will be based in Dublin.

In New York City, Vladimir Zdorovtsov, a senior quant researcher who only joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management (technically the buy-side arm of Goldman Sachs) from State Street in February, has swiftly moved on again. Zdorovtsov, who was only at Goldman for 10 months, has now joined Acadian Asset Management. He too has shifted cities: he'll now be based in Boston.

The exits come as equities divisions in investment banks seem likely to pay unimpressive bonuses and to make more job cuts. Search firm Options Group is predicting an 11% drop in cash equities bonuses in London and a 15% drop in New York City in the coming bonus round compared to last year. Citi already cut equities jobs in the third quarter.  Equity researchers have been at the sharp end of the squeeze due to MiFID II, with jobs at the biggest banks shrinking from around 6,800 to around 5,000 between 2012 and 2019, according to Coalition.

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