I have been working within CIB Markets under a support function for almost 4 years and shocked to see the level of disorganization in this Business line.
First, this business has little to no competitive edge compared to even the smaller markets players (eg: banks) as it seems to be that the Markets Business is purely in place to support the corporate clients who want to utilize the same bank for secondary market activities. There is little to no institutional trading with the large hedge funds, sovereign funds, pension funds etc
The technology is beyond old and unstable, there is no leadership or direction, there are lots of teams doing things but nobody can identify the strategy or the "why" they are doing things. Most the MDs are never in the office or are lifers who reside in Charlotte that do not believe in promotion or diversity. For some reason Charlie thinks this is a growth business? How is that possible? is he that removed from CIB Markets to not understand the level of disorganization going on?
And to the main point, there is a lot of blame game and over the past 3 years i have seen good people get cornered and/or laid-off while the charlotte crew is kept in tact given their Wachovia roots.
Can someone give a better read on this business? I feel that i am in a function where layoffs are bound to happen but every time i ask the question to my manager i am told that "this is a growth strategy"
any honest input would be appreciated as this impacts my performance and mental sanity almost everyday.