London bank has hired a lot of men since its sex scandal
Stifel, the boutique bank, is an interesting place to work. You’re likely to have one of the lowest pay packages in London’s banking scene, but you might get some “other benefits”. Unfortunately, any actual benefits floating around Stifel seem to be congregating, as usual, to its male bankers.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
The bank recently took to social media to show off some of its senior investment banking hires. They included 11 names: Zishaan Arshad, Michael Baca, Ken Kloner, Phillip McCreanor, David H. Morse, Tushar Pande, Saqib Rabbani, Vikram Sood, Guy Stevens, Mark Whitfeld, and Fabian Zimmer. They were all based in the UK or USA, except for Zimmer, who was based in Germany.
Some have noted that they are all men. This is not unusual – banking is still a male-dominated profession. And if 75% of senior leaders in the industry are men, then the chance of all 11 new senior faces being men is… 4%.
At Stifel, however, it might be seen as problematic. It’s been less than a year since two (male) traders – one senior and one junior – were fired in London by the bank for reportedly having sex with the same cleaner both in and out of the office toilets.
A minor row erupted at the bank after that news broke, which culminated in the departure of the firm’s (female) Europe president, Eithne O’Leary. It’s unclear if she left of her own accord or was part of the broader cuts at Stifel at the time.
Around the same time as O’Leary’s departure and the cleaner escapade, it was revealed by public disclosure that 94% of Stifel’s top earners in 2023 were men. “How can you have any impact on lad culture when 94% of your highest earners are men?”, one woman employed by a rival bank told us at the time. 2024 pay gap figures haven’t been released yet (ETA in April this year).
Of course, Stifel isn't exclusively a club for men. The bank does employ women, even senior women, including co-head of client coverage Lauren Harrington and investment banking MD Anne Perlman. And it even added Seema Arora from Instinet back in October of last year. Few women doesn't mean no women.
However, the bank also had by a significant margin the worst compensation package of any London bank, as last analyzed by recruitment consultant Pretraga Partners. At the end of it all, the most insulting part is that it’s not a particularly big pie being hoarded.
Stifel did not respond to multiple requests to comment.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)
