Dresdner adds 'fresh blood' following defections

Dresdner Kleinwort, the German investment bank, has hired eight staff for its London equity trading team in the past three months as it rebuilds in the wake of several defections in May.

The hires come after trading revenues at Dresdner Kleinwort, which dropped the Wasserstein moniker in June as part of a reorganisation of its corporate and investment banking businesses, trebled in the first half of the year and powered the bank's operating profits from just €8m ($10.2m) last year to €234m.

The new joiners include senior trader Steven Lloyd and trader Lee Barford, both of whom previously worked at ABN Amro and have experience of the telecoms and technology sectors.

Dresdner Kleinwort also confirmed it has recruited former Citigroup trader Martin Coughlan, as first reported by Financial News in May, as a senior hedge fund sales trader. Coughlan is one of two directors who join from Knight Securities, along with Ryan Parsonage.

The other arrivals are Mike Price, who joined in May as a senior cash equity trader after 20 years at UBS, Stephen Gibson from hedge fund Cardinal Asset Management, Ross Sullivan from Numis Securities and Daniel Stock from Williams de Broë.

The eight joiners will report to Rupert Fraser, head of equity sales trading, and Carsten Stork, head of equity trading.

Stork said: "The new hires bring a diverse range of different sector expertise and add fresh blood to our team. Taken together they demonstrate the bank's strong commitment to its equity execution business."

Stork took sole charge of the bank's equity trading business after the departure of co-head Hugh McAlister and a four-strong team to Icelandic bank Kaupthing in mid-May. A further five equities staff quit Dresdner Kleinwort to join Bear Stearns and JP Morgan later that month.