Ex-Barclays banker finds RBC likes him after sudden UBS exit

Kevin Cullinane was not long at UBS. He arrived from Barclays in April 2024 to some fanfare and left again in January 2025 for reasons that were not entirely clear and which UBS declined to comment on at the time. 

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Now, though, Cullinane is back. Five weeks after his final day at UBS, he has joined RBC Capital Markets as a managing director in New York.

Cullinane is a technology, media and telecoms banker. His swift reemployment reflects the popularity of his trade. It may have helped that RBC's technology banking business is run by Kirk Kaludis, also a former Barclays banker. The two men didn't work together at Barclays: Kaludis left shortly after Cullinane joined, but former colleagues may have testified to Cullinane's ability. He spent seven years at Barclays before his brief sojourn at UBS.

RBC said last year that it was revamping its business to target US growth. Last week, it announced that it hired Amit Melwani from BMO Capital Markets and Timothy George from Lazard, both in consumer and retail banking. 

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