Credit Suisse just hired 2 top research analysts away from UBS, and it establishes a clear trend
- Credit Suisse hired two top research analysts away from UBS.
- Doug Mitchelson joins the bank as managing director in equity research covering the media, cable/satellite, and telecommunications sectors. Brian Russo joins as a vice president working in the same sector.
- The bank has now hired at least six managing directors in research from UBS recent months. They're part of a wave of hires the bank has recently made to beef up its research division.
Credit Suisse has hired two high-level equity research analysts away from Swiss rival UBS, part of a wave of hires the bank has made in recent months to load up on research firepower.
Doug Mitchelson joins the bank as managing director in equity research covering the media, cable/satellite, and telecommunications sectors, according to a memo seen by Business Insider.
Previously he worked for three years at UBS as a senior media analyst and before that spent 17 years as an analyst with Deutsche Bank.
"Given the increasing convergence and consolidation of these sectors, we believe having a single, combined team allows for synergies and deeper insights," David Bleustein, head of research in the Americas for Credit Suisse, wrote in the memo. "Doug brings significant experience to this role having spent over 20 years as a sell-side analyst covering the Media and Cable/Satellite sectors."
Mitchelson joins Brian Russo, who was recently hired as a vice president covering the same sector. He worked with Mitchelson in media equity research at UBS before joining Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank before that.
A Credit Suisse spokesman confirmed the hires.
Bleustein himself was hired this summer from UBS, where he started as an industrials analyst in 1999 and ran the equity research divsion in the US since 2008.
The bank has only ramped up its investment in research since.
Other managing directors in research that have joined Credit Suisse since the summer include:
- Jonathan Golub, chief US equity strategist
- Marty Auster, mid- and small-cap biotechnology analyst
- AJ Rice, managed care and healthcare facilities
- Michael Binetti, softlines and department stores
- Bill Featherston, energy exploration and production and integrated oil
- Kristina Kazarian, master limited partnerships and refiners
- Andrew Kligerman, life insurance
Of that group, all but one worked at UBS in the past four years, and four joined directly from UBS. Given the hire of Bleustein from UBS, and the hire of Mitchelson, that means Credit Suisse has now hired at least six managing directors in research from UBS in recent months.
The rash of research hires comes ahead of new European regulations set to go live in January - known as MiFID II - that are expected to result in slashed research budgets across Wall Street.
Mary Erdoes, the head of JPMorgan's $1.9 trillion asset and wealth management business, recently explained the impacts and looming industry cuts to a room full of analysts at a conference.
"On the buy side, the larger firms will absorb the costs and figure out how that cascades its way through," Erdoes said. "It probably means they'll tighten up a lot on what they spend on sell-side research, which is why the two go hand in hand."
Erdoes plainly laid out what happens next: "I was dealing with 10 of you; I don't want 10 of you anymore, I only want the five best of you."