Morning Coffee: Bank of America's new global co-head of M&A has an interesting lineage. Goldman Sachs' top recruiter's advice for creating an impression

Citi may have a dislike for co-heads due to the duplication of expense and effort, but Bank of America is all for them. After promoting Latin American banker Alex Bettamio as co-head of global banking with Thomas Sheehan last year, Reuters reported last night that BofA has made London banker Eamon Brabazon co-head of global mergers and acquisitions alongside Ivan Farman in the US. 

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Brabazon was previously the mere head of EMEA M&A at BofA. His star appears to have ascended globally after his EMEA co-head, Birger Berenedes, left to be the only one in charge of continental European M&A at Jefferies in July. Bank of America likes Brabazon because, it says, he's advised on some of its highest profile deals. Nonetheless, LSEG says BofA has gone from 13th to 6th in the European M&A rankings this year and from 4th to 9th in the UK. Brabazon has seemingly been promoted despite rather than because of this. 

Brabazon is BofA's first UK based global co-head of M&A for many years. He's long had a golden glow. Now aged in his early 50s, Brabazon was feted as a top performer at JPMorgan in his late 30s. He started his career at Davy Stockbrokers in Ireland and moved to London where he worked in financial sponsors M&A for JPMorgan. When BofA hired Brabazon from JPM in 2015, it wanted him so much that it created a new role for him as head of financial sponsors M&A. 

Brabazon's career is, however, only part of his backstory. The Times noted a while ago that Brabazon is related to the Earl of Meath Brabazons, who own Kilruddery House in County Wicklow. Kilruddy is a large country estate currently in the possession of the 15th Earl of Meath, who is presumably Brabazon's relative. In the 1600s, the 2nd of Earl of Meath fought on behalf of Charles 1st in the English civil war and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. If you encounter Brabazon in an interview, this might be a talking point. 

Separately, if you meet Jacqueline Arthur, global head of human capital management and corporate & workplace solutions at Goldman Sachs in an interview, make sure you convey a genuine wish to work for Goldman and that you send a nice note when it's over. 

Speaking to Fortune, Arthur said only 1% of people applying for internships at Goldman get in, and that those who do express an “authentic interest” in working for Goldman Sachs and take the time to "craft a personalized message" after the interview. 

Meanwhile....

Yesterday was wild in Hong Kong and China. First China’s CSI 300 Index soared 11% at the open, only for the gains to more than halve within an hour. In Hong Kong, there was a 10% plunge, the worst since 2008. (Bloomberg) 

After a difficult August for macro-focused carry trades, hedge fund manager Greg Coffey wants to invest in Turkey. Coffey said recently that as he gets older, he's more focused on wealth preservation than accumulation. “The learning of my career is that you make all your money by taking three to four positions a year that work really well..." (Bloomberg) 

How to handle parenthood: “The truth is I only have 100% of me, not 110%. Understanding that I am not 100% allocated to being a mom, they only get 30%, allows me to be more intentional…. So my children don’t get 100% of all of me. But within that allocation, they get 100%.” (Fortune) 

Ex-investment banker who left to make banking videos on TikTok and now works in product management marketing: "I used to feel so cool saying I worked in finance, in investment banking, I'm not going to lie. I think as I grew older, I just valued my free time, my independence, and just personal interest and passion a bit more than just grinding 24/7 for a corporate company."  (Business Insider) 

Barclays thinks European investment grade bonds, US investment grade bonds, covered bonds and public bonds are at an inflection point for electronic trading. (FT Alphaville) 

Jeff Ryan, early adopter of R for finance, has never taken a programming course and says he's not that good at programming anyway. “In terms of natural programming ability, I put myself a little lower than many people I encounter. But at its core, what we’re doing is working with logic. If you think through a problem step-by-step, you can probably find a way to make it happen.” (IBK Campus) 

Don't defer the CFA Level 1 exam. In the recent test, first-time testers scored significantly above the average pass rate, at 50%, while those with at least one deferral had an average pass rate of 29%. (Bloomberg)

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