Stifel Announces Job Cuts in London

Stifel, the brokerage firm that has recently been growing its workforce, is now planning to reduce its staff once again.

Sources indicate that Stifel is scaling back its trading operations in London, potentially impacting around 20 jobs, particularly within the execution and market-making teams.

A spokesperson for Stifel noted that this decision is part of evolving their European business to focus more on advisory services and adopting a capital-light model. They will still offer equity research, sales, and trading services for European financial institutions through KBW.

Earlier this year, Stifel had already placed about 30 positions at risk in London as they shifted away from share sales and trading to concentrate on advisory roles. Interestingly, they’ve been on a hiring spree as well, with recent recruits including Jack Harvey from Tavira Financial in September, Yannis Bouchakour from SocGen in October, and Sam Hart from Berenberg last month.

Seema Arora, who joined from Instinet in October 2024, leads Stifel’s execution operations, overseeing agency trading, risk trading, and various electronic trading facets. Requests for comment from Arora went unanswered.

Despite these cuts, it’s been a positive year for traders, with reports indicating that trading fee pools are hitting their highest marks since 2005.

The spokesperson emphasized their commitment to targeted investments in their European operations, aiming to establish Stifel as a market leader in sectors where they can significantly benefit clients.

Stifel plans to maintain its advisory and corporate brokerage services, continuing to offer U.S. investigation and enforcement capabilities to clients in Europe.