A top London headhunter has been accused of tricking Wall Street traders into handing over private details of their fat pay packages by dangling phony job openings from banking giants like Goldman Sachs, according to a bombshell report.
UK-based financial recruitment firm Odin Partners used fake identities as they cold-called some of New York’s top money managers, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Odin executives then dangled the fake Wall Street gigs “in exchange for details about their salaries, the make-up of their teams and even their desk’s confidential profit and loss statements,” according to the outlet, which cited internal memos and 10 unnamed sources.
Lawyers representing Odin Partners, led by co-founder Mounaver Thomas, told the financial news agency on Sept 13. that the allegations were “false.”
The company said in a statement to the outlet that it was “currently in dispute with those they believe are responsible for the allegations and has been advised not to engage publicly on the issues raised.”
Bloomberg said Odin Partners claimed they were recruiting for top US firms Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley.
They also told the traders that counted European banks UBS, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and French giant BNP Paribas among their clients.
Odin “gets much of its information from legitimate interactions with traders including face-to-face meetings,” the report said.
“But it is alleged that Odin staff have also obtained sensitive market intelligence from traders at some of the largest banks in the world using false identities,” it added.
The report alleged staffers described the process as ‘rusing’: the word dates back to the 14th century that refers to an action intended to mislead or deceive. One former Odin staffer called rusing a “necessary evil” in this line of work.
“I’m not sure I ever called using my real name, I don’t recall ever doing it, most times I used false names,” another ex-Odin recruiter was quoted as saying.
Bloomberg said the firm then uses the information for what it describes as ‘market mapping’ of “the key players trading in some of the world’s biggest asset classes from rates to currencies.”
The private data was then allegedly presented to some of the firm’s clients, uncovering previously secret details of their rivals’ trading desk performance.
Citi, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The other banks did not reply to noti.group’s request for comment.
Financial headhunters are required to know existing banker salaries as well as the individual performance on a trading desk, two of the most closely guarded secrets in banking.
Successful recruiters can rake in as much as 25% of their candidate’s first year total compensation as a placement fee.
Odin is headquartered in the heart of Canary Wharf, London’s financial district in the east of the British capital.
It claims to have placed more than 900 executives in senior positions worldwide, according to its website, and also has offices in Singapore, New York and Hong Kong.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
