BAML's Koder to
replace Meissner
as CIB chief
BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH has named
senior Asia banker Matthew Koder as head
of corporate and investment banking to
replace Christian Meissner.
Meissner has run CIB since July 2010
and will step down at the end of the year,
according to a staff memo from chief
OPERATINGûOFlCERû4OMû-ONTAG
Koder is president of BAML in Asia-
0ACIlCû(EûWILLûRELOCATEûTOû.EWû9ORKûFORûTHEû
new role, the memo said.
Meissner was previously co-CEO of
Lehman Brothers in Europe for four years
until its collapse, and before that a partner
at Goldman Sachs.
Montag’s memo said it was Meissner’s
decision to leave.
“Christian joined the bank in 2010 during
a tumultuous period in the markets. His
drive and determination during that period
and since then have been critical to the
development of our business,” Montag said.
Koder joined BAML in 2011 as head of
!SIAû0ACIlCûCORPORATEûANDûINVESTMENTû
banking and became APAC president a year
LATERû(EûWASûAûHIGH
PROlLEûANDûEXPENSIVEû
hire from UBS, where he oversaw ECM, and
was tasked with shaking up BAML in the
region, where it was underperforming and
lacking a clear strategy.
Observers suggest he has done that in
part by simplyfying an overly complicated
structure.
“He’s done a fantastic job. It’s been an
almost US$1bn turnaround in pre-tax
earnings in the region. It was loss-making and
now it’s making money,” said one insider.
Koder, a fast-talking Australian who
started out at Goldman Sachs in the mid-
1990s, has held senior roles in Hong Kong,
3YDNEY û,ONDONûANDû.EWû9ORKûDURINGûHISû
career.
The insider said Koder was quick to
identify the need for a change in values
WHENûHEûJOINEDû"!-,û)NûHISûlRSTûYEARûHEû
personally spoke to nearly every BAML
employee in the region in a series of
90-minute presentations of 40 people
at a time in an attempt to eradicate bad
behaviour.
“He’s the real deal; an impressive guy,”
the insider said.
The memo said Koder’s successor in
APAC will be announced shortly. Observers
suggest the bench of possible succesors in
Asia is not especially strong, and expect his
replacement to come from elsewhere in the
company.RANKINGS SLIP
Meissner’s relationship with BAML bosses
deteriorated after the bank suffered a
US$292m loss from margin loans to South
African retailer Steinhoff and its former
chairman Christo Wiese, sources previously
TOLDû)&2û)NûTHEûINTENSEûlNGER
POINTINGû
exercise that followed, Meissner took a
SIGNIlCANTûSHAREûOFûTHEûBLAME
Other major banks took a hit from
Steinhoff in the fourth quarter of 2017 too,
but BAML’s was one of the biggest.
Tensions have also increased as BAML
has slipped down the investment banking
fee rankings. It ranks fourth for fees so far
this year, from third for the previous three
years and second each year from 2009 to
2014, according to Thomson Reuters data.
It ranks seventh this year for M&A
advisory fees, after hovering between third
and seventh each year for the past decade.
The bank’s relative performance in USM&A, where it has missed out on some
SIGNIlCANTûDEALS ûHASûBEENûPARTICULARLYû
notable.
Chief executive Brian Moynihan weighed
on the art of missing deals after the second
quarter. “We know we can do a better job.
The team’s working on it ... they’re after
it,” he told analysts on the Q2 results call.
“Sometimes you get the right side of the
deal. Sometimes you get the wrong side of
a deal. Sometimes you’re not in a deal.”
The bank barely shows up in the top 10
transactions this year, missing out on deals
such as Shire/Takeda, Express Scripts/Cigna
and Sprint/T-Mobile.
Part of “working on it” means bringing
in a fresh set of eyes, said one bank analyst,
who said the weakness was likely to
continue in the third quarter. “They have
to show that they are not just sitting on
their thumbs especially after the CEO called
them out, the analyst said.
)Nû%#-û"!-,ûSLIPPEDûTOûlFTHûTHISûYEARû
and in 2017, down from fourth from 2013
to 2016 and from the top three each year
between 2005 and 2012. In DCM, on the
other hand, it has held second position
every year since 2009.
Meissner’s greatest contribution to BAML
came in the early years of his tenure,
where he rebuilt an investment bank that
had struggled to recapture its energy and
CONlDENCEûINûTHEûAFTERMATHûOFûTHEûlNANCIALû
crisis.
He made great strides in integrating the
apparently mundane but actually lucrative
commercial and transaction banking
OPERATIONSûWITHûmASHIERûINVESTMENTû
bankers, although a person who knows him
well said that more recently he has grown
frustrated as BAML stepped up its focus on
areas such as transaction banking, rather
than the investment bank.
MATTHEW DAVIES, STEVE SLATER, PHILIP SCIPIOPlease send job moves to
[email protected]Please contact us if you have information about job moves: [email protected]
STATE BANK OF
INDIA has appointed
Prashant Kumar as
chief financial officer.
Kumar, who has been
with SBI for over 30
years, is a replacement
for Anshula Kant,
who was appointed
managing director
earlier this month.
Kumar is one of three
managing directors
at SBI. NATIONAL AUSTRALIA
BANK has tapped
former New South
Wales premier
Mike Baird to run its
consumer banking
division after current
head Andrew Hagger
became the latest
casualty of the
country’s Royal
Commission.
Baird joined NAB in
February last year ashead of the corporate
and institutional bank
after a three-year stint
as New South Wales
premier and 10 years
in state politics. He
previously worked at
NAB and HSBC before
quitting to train as an
Anglican minister.
Baird will be tasked
with taking charge
of the consumer
banking unit as NABlooks to restore its
reputation after it
was revealed that its
wealth management
subsidiary charged
fees to 220,
customers for advice
they never received.
Baird, whose
appointment is still
subject to regulatory
approval, is expected
to take over from
Hagger on October 1.