J.P. Morgan’s London-based technology team is on edge. Following a series of redundancies in March, there are rumours of additional cuts to come soon and then again later in the year.
“I left in March,” says one ex-J.P. technologist. “I know a few other people who were let go at the same time. The next waves were expected in May and September.”
Alongside redundancies, J.P. Morgan’s London technology jobs are being shifted to cheaper locations. “The new hires in my project are based in Glasgow even though the current team sits in Bank Street,” says the ex-employee.
J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the alleged layoffs, but recruiters confirmed that J.P. Morgan’s London technologists are fearful of being shifted to Glasgow or Bournemouth or being asked to leave altogether. “They’re offering people voluntary redundancy as they try to streamline,” says one technology recruiter, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They’re also moving people out of the City.”
In March, J.P. Morgan banned its technology staff from having full profiles on LinkedIn. This has not prevented the bank’s technology-oriented professionals quitting for hedge funds, high speed trading companies and tech firms. Last month, Gabi Teodoru, a former quantitative researcher and data scientist with a PhD in computational neuroscience from UCL left for Jukedeck, a company that offers bespoke music for videos and games.
Recruiters say that J.P. Morgan is also hiring technologists for its London trading business, however. “A lot of people want to join Doug Carucci’s group in London,” says one. “He’s seen as a superstar.” Carucci is a managing director in quantitative trading at J.P. Morgan. He joined the bank in 2011 from Sun Trading and previously spent 10 years as head of front office technology at Citadel.