A senior DCM banker lost several team members, and his job title shrunk
Has Abraham Douek, the Madrid-based head of SSA debt capital markets at Santander been moved down a notch?
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
This depends on who you ask. Douek, who joined Santander from Citi in 2021, was previously the bank's head of financial institutions group (FIG) and Sovereign, Supranational, and Agency (SSA) capital markets. Now, it's understood that he's only head of SSA Capital Markets. Vikram Gandhi, who joined in 2021, is thought to be running FIG instead.
Douek isn't commenting and nor is Santander, but his new role follows the arrival of Sean Taor as head of DCM at Santander last September.
Douek's new job may, or may not, be considered a demotion. On one hand, insiders say Santander is making a push into SSA DCM and that Douek will be spearheading that move. On the other, the FIG DCM team at Santander is understood to contain around 40 people, whereas the SSA team historically had three people and now only has one, plus Douek himself.
Douek's new team has been depleted by recent departures. Ignacio Bas, a former director on the team and the previous head of SSAs at Santander left last month. Clàudia Illa Guix, a former associate on the team, resigned two weeks ago. Douek now a single junior colleague: the London-based analyst Mijail Pelinski Carmona.
Good luck to him. Insiders at Santander point to various exits from Douek's broader team in recent years and suggest he can be a demanding and sometimes erratic boss. Anna D'Ercole, the former head of UK and Ireland DCM, left last April. Philippe Mailotte left for JPMorgan last October. Angus Berkeley left two years ago for NatWest.
In a big team of 40 people, three exits may be inconsequential. In Douek's new SSA team of three people, two recent departures look more problematic. Douek is already hiring replacements. Sources say there can be upsides to working for him: he's a fan of young people and depending upon your preferences there might be interesting outings - the DCM team is thought to have been involved in the strip club visit that prompted an investigation in 2022.
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 libellous (in which case it won’t.)
