Credit Suisse Hires EMEA O&G Head from Barclays

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has hired James Peterkin, from Britain's Barclays (BCS), to head its oil and gas team in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to a memo seen by Reuters on Monday.

 

Peterkin, who has been co-head of EMEA oil and gas investment banking at Barclays since 2009, will join Credit Suisse in March and be based in London, according to the memo, whose contents were confirmed by a Credit Suisse spokeswoman.

 

With crude prices at 11-year lows, the world's biggest oil and gas producers are being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery - all offering potential work for investment banks.

 

M&A activity in the energy and power sector was up just 1 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year, totalling $591 billion, Thomson Reuters data shows, but some bankers predict more activity as companies seek to restore revenues.

 

Peterkin, who has also worked at Schroders and Citibank in the oil and gas sector, replaces James Janoskey who left the Swiss bank in June 2015 to take up a similar position at Wall Street firm JPMorgan.

 

Credit Suisse has been building up its oil and gas investment banking team, with the appointment of John Ciolek in August 2015 from JPMorgan and James Van Milder in July 2015 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, both based in New York.