Business

High-ranking banker brothers raided Bank of America as they left for UBS and VTB Capital

LONDON — A pair of high-ranking banker brothers have hit Bank of America Merrill Lynch hard, by leaving and taking a team of trusted staff with them to foreign rivals UBS and VTB Capital.

Italian-born Andrea and Riccardo Orcel — who have joined the Swiss and Russian institutions, respectively — raided the US bank upon their departures, the Financial Times reported.

Andrea Orcel, who has taken the post of co-head of investment banking at UBS and will commence work this summer, hand-picked Spanish and Italian staff to join him, as his brother was also removing talent to join him at VTB Capital.

Among those lured away from Bank of America were its Spanish investment banking boss Javier Oficialdegui, equity capital markets head Javier Martinez-Piqueras, Italian Emilio Greco and emerging markets deal-maker Alberto Palombi, people familiar with the movements said.

Riccardo Orcel’s hires from Bank of America are believed to have been more junior.

“This is a smash and grab. This will really rile the Merrill management,” one former Bank of America staffer said.

Andrea Orcel, whose departure from Bank of America after 20 years was on bad terms, has a strong relationship with Santander and UniCredit that is expected to see the banks’ business move to UBS with him.