Barclays Canada loses more senior bankers and analysts, with Jefferies hiring most

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The list of senior bankers and analysts leaving Barclays PLC’s Canadian capital markets arm is growing, with at least six more people leaving in the past few weeks, according to three sources.

Barclays already lost three top bankers, including country head Bruce Rothney, to investment bank Jefferies Financial Group at the end of August, and the run on talent has continued.

Since those initial hires, Jefferies has also brought on investment bankers Erik Charbonneau, who worked in equity capital markets, and Jacquelyn Titus, who led Barclays’ Canadian financial institutions group and previously worked at Goldman Sachs.

Jefferies is also hiring three analysts from Barclays, including John Aiken, who ran the Canadian research team and is a long-time financial services analyst. Analysts Anthony Linton and Matt Murphy, who cover energy and metals, respectively, are also joining.

Tim Kitchen, a long-time investment banker in Calgary and the head of Barclays’ Canadian investment banking team, is also leaving the British-based bank, but unlike his former colleagues he is not joining Jefferies. Instead, he is retiring.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying its sources because they were not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

In late August, The Globe reported that Jefferies, a Wall Street investment bank, was looking to make a splash in Canada, where it currently has a small footprint, by hiring away multiple senior bankers from Barclays. In addition to Mr. Rothney, Jefferies also hired Trond Lossius, Barclays Canada’s former head of mergers and acquisitions, and James McKenna, who was head of Barclays’ diversified industries team here.

At the time, two other bankers were looking to leave, but Barclays was hoping it could hold onto them. In the weeks since, those bankers have left, and others have followed. Barclays declined to comment on the changes.

Jefferies also declined to comment on the moves. The investment bankers and analysts are expected to take several weeks or months, depending on their roles, of what is known on Bay Street as “gardening leave” before starting their new jobs, to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

With a report from Andrew Willis in Toronto