After JPMorgan fired a senior macro strategist, fears that no one is safe
Until recently, Mike Bell, a University of Cambridge graduate with a strong interest in markets, probably thought his job was safe. Bell, who didn't respond to a request to comment for this article, was a global market strategist and head of a team of strategists for EMEA and Asia at JPMorgan Asset management in London. Then he was let go.
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JPMorgan isn't commenting, but writing on LinkedIn, Bell says he was made redundant in June. He's spent the past three months showcasing his knowledge of everything from the Bank of England to US equities as he searches for a new job appropriate to someone with, "with over 15 years experience of predicting the global economic outlook and the implications for equities, bonds and alternative assets."
So far, it seems there are no takers.
In difficult markets, strategists count. As UK gilt yields spike, someone with Bell's background should be a popular hire. But strategists have suffered from the unbundling of research and as banks squeeze costs, senior strategy jobs are suffering.
Matt King, a senior global markets strategist at Citi was let go in 2023 and now runs his own research firm, Sartori Insights. King and Bell aren't acquainted, but he says the value of research follows "virtuous and vicious circles." Banks that believe in and invest in research are rewarded when clients give them business. But once banks start questioning the value of research, King says the circle works in the opposite direction: "Start asking which trade resulted from that particular research note, and clients pull away."
Bell isn't the first strategist to leave JPMorgan without wanting to. Marko Kolanovic, a veteran JPMorgan managing director and chief global markets strategist, was let go last year. Kolanovic was replaced by his junior.
King says JPMorgan's dispensation with its strategists is disappointing. JPMorgan's "hallowed halls" seemed immune to the tendency to question senior strategists' value, says King. This seems not to be the case.
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