RBC woos three senior financials bankers from Deutsche Bank

By Lauren Hirsch and Olivia Oran

(Reuters) – RBC Capital Markets has hired three senior Deutsche Bank AG bankers who focus on advising banks, according to an internal memo from the Canadian firm.

Speculation for bank mergers has increased as a surge in stock prices for financials following the U.S. election in November could make firms more likely to use their rebounding shares to pursue deals.

The hires include Americas head of Deutsche Bank’s financial institutions group Venkat Badinehal. Badinehal joined Deutsche Bank in 2009 from Merrill Lynch and has worked on deals including advising BB&T Corp on its $1.8 billion acquisition of National Penn Corp and its $2.5 billion acquisition of Susquehanna Bancshares.

Badinehal will join RBC as co-head of U.S. financial institutions investment banking alongside current head Jerry Wiant, according to the memo, which was confirmed on Wednesday by an RBC spokeswoman.

Managing directors Jason Braunstein and Saurabh Monga, who also joined Deutsche from Merrill alongside Badinehal, were hired at RBC, as well.

Financials-focused M&A, which includes giving advice to banks, brokerages, insurance companies and asset managers, saw volumes fall 15.6 percent globally in 2016, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Deutsche Bank said last week it would be cutting bonuses drastically for its investment bankers for 2016 after struggling to turn a profit and facing a big bill for litigation.

(Reporting by Lauren Hirsch and Olivia Oran in New York; additional reporting by David French in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby)