ABN AMRO do not plan to replace the key role of economist following the departure of Dan McLaughlin earlier this year. The move comes as the firm conducts a review of its trading structures in Europe - it says it will definitely maintain a trading service from Dublin.
The company does not however plan to directly replace McLaughlin, who has moved to Bank of Ireland, with another Irish economy-focused bond market economist. This is because of the arrival of the euro in place of the Irish pound and the ability of the London team to cover Irish economic moves.
Although ABN AMRO will maintain a trading presence in Dublin, the move to have no Irish-based economist is seen as a indication of the plan to cover the Irish bond market from a mainly London base. The reorganisation of ABN AMRO operations in Dublin will parallel similar structural moves in Europe - the UK is the headquarters for much of the pan-European ABN AMRO network.
It is unclear at this stage what the exact impact on the Dublin operation this will have and how many jobs will involved, if any.
In stockbroking generally there is a trend for analysts to become sector specialists, with a global focus, parallel to the market focus of the companies they analyse, and their investors. |
