Another bank put an equities guy in charge of fixed income trading

If you want a very senior position in fixed income trading now, it may help if you built your career in equities. 

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TD Securities has become the latest bank to jettison its fixed income management for something with more of an equities flavour. Chris Vogel, the Canadian bank's fixed income-focused co-head of global markets, is going. TD Securities' markets business will now have a sole head in the form of Dan Charney, an equities professional.

The reasons for Vogel's exit aren't entirely clear. In an internal memo seen by eFinancialCareers, TD said his departure had roused "mixed emotions" but also that it coincided with Charney's promotion to head global markets. The implication is that Vogel was asked to leave. Both men were based in New York City.

Charney joined TD Securities in 2023 when it acquired Cowen. His entire career has been in equities, first at UBS, where he was head of West Coast equity distribution, then at Jefferies where he was an MD and head of US sales trading, then at Cowen, where he was co-head of equities for 11 years from 2012. "It doesn't make much sense for him to run fixed income: he's an equities guy," observes one headhunter. 

Equities are a small proportion of TD Securities' markets revenue. In the most recent quarter, the bank earned $904m in sales and trading, of which $285m was from equities, $362m was from rates and credit and $257m was from FX. 

Charney will therefore be running a business in which nearly 72% of the revenues are generated by teams previously managed by Vogel. Vogel joined TD from BlackRock in 2017 and was initially hired as global head of FX.

TD Securities is not, however, the only bank to choose an equities professional to run its entire trading business, including fixed income. Ted Pick, the now CEO of Morgan Stanley, famously began his career in equities trading before moving into fixed income trading with the bank and immediately cutting 500 people. Tim Gately, the former head of equity sales at Citi, joined MUFJ to run credit trading last year. 

The rationale for inserting equities professionals at the pinnacle of fixed income trading businesses is typically that as fixed income trading becomes more electronic, equities traders are best placed to help manage the move. Electronification typically means fewer human traders are needed. Hopefully Charney's new team will understand.

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