Morning Coffee: JPMorgan banker's Morgan Stanley jump is a sign of the times. Hiring bankers amidst the cows

efinancialcareers.com:

Marco Caggiano, the former co-head of North American M&A at JPMorgan didn't come from a banking family, but after 22 years in the industry he's had ample time to assess which jobs are best. They may not be the ones that come with the biggest titles, particularly in a market like this. 

Caggiano, who grew up in Connecticut, had a father in graphic design and a mother in marketing. He attended law school and joined JPMorgan as an associate after a brief foray into a legal career. He'd been at JPMorgan ever since, and despite being promoted to lead the North American team three years ago, he's just quit. A different sort of job at Morgan Stanley seemed preferable.

Caggiano is off to become Morgan Stanley's vice chairman of M&A. For those outside banking, that sounds like an even bigger job. Those inside banking will know that being vice chairman isn't exactly what it seems: chairmen are primarily enormous schmoozers; they don't run teams but are external facing and spend their time meeting clients. 

In the current market, where managing a team is an uphill struggle of motivating people through cost-cutting and minimal bonuses, escaping into a role that doesn't involve any of this is going to be appealing. Instead of negotiating with colleagues, Caggiano will now be free to put himself about with clients who've relied upon him in the past and may do again when things pick up. His deal roster includes advising Twitter on its sale to Elon Musk and Discovery on its merger with Warner Media.

As banks look for rainmakers to drum up deals in a dry market, the role of chairman is increasingly important. Deutsche Bank, for exampe, hired Samuel Kim from Morgan Stanley to be its chairman of APAC M&A last week, plus Ken Oliver