Deutsche Bank's 35 year-old macro traders must be very well paid
We're halfway through the year and there's still no certainty as to who made €18m working for Deutsche Bank in 2024. It's not inconceivable, though, that it was one of the macro traders working for the German bank in London.
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Bloomberg reported today that Jamie Mansell, Deutsche Bank's head of European government bond trading, is moving to hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management, where he will be an associate portfolio manager. Bloomberg says Mansell - who by our estimation is in his mid-30s - generated profits of over €200m for Deutsche Bank in recent years.
Was this sufficient to generate the payment of €18m for 2024? Maybe, if the bulk was earned last year. However, in most cases, headhunters say banks pay traders closer to 8-10% of profits as bonuses. Mansell may, therefore, be a long shot for Deutsche's €18m - except there are rumours that he considered leaving for a hedge fund a few years ago and was bought back by Deutsche, which hiked his pay.
If Mansell didn't get the €18m, insiders suggest the recipient may have been someone else on the Deutsche rates desk. Alok Modi, the bank's ex-Morgan Stanley head of European linear rates trading, is thought to be handsomely rewarded too.
Mansell's FCA registration says he spent four years at Deutsche Bank, before which he spent at least five years at Morgan Stanley.
15 years ago, Christian Bittar, another former Deutsche rates trader in his mid-30s, generated nearly €2bn in audited profits for the bank over a five-year period and was given a £90m bonus in 2008. Unfortunately, he was subsequently jailed for five years and had to pay a large proportion of that back.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment on Mansell's profitability, and Balyasny didn't respond to a request to comment. Balyasny is developing a reputation for being generous to its new hires: it reportedly spent $50m hiring Dave Brodsky from Citadel in March.
Mansell is expected to work on the highly leveraged basis trade at Balyasny. The fund already employs people like Steve Brown to work basis trades too, and despite his long experience at Deutsche Mansell is joining as a mere associate PM.
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