John Paynter, the bank’s most senior dealmaker after its chairman, David Mayhew, is exploring a number of non-executive directorships and will leave Cazenove soon, The Wall Street Journal Reports.
His departure comes as Cazenove steps up its search for a new chief executive to replace Robert Pickering, who left in April.
The bank has interviewed a number of internal candidates, although it is expected to plump for a high- profile external appointment. It is understood Paynter did not apply for the post.
Cazenove brought in Egon Zehnder International in March, a month after Pickering quit, to conduct the external search, although the headhunter is also helping Cazenove’s board to interview internal candidates.
Egon Zehnder now has a list of external candidates and the bank is expected to name Pickering’s replacement this summer.
The appointment is complicated by the fact the joint venture between blue-blooded Cazenove and US investment bank JPMorgan effectively expires in two years. The two banks could theoretically decide to continue with the arrangement put in place in 2004, but Cazenove is expected to be absorbed into the JPMorgan family.
The bank lost many of its old-timers before the joint venture was concluded and another exodus is likely in 2010, when Mayhew may also step down.
But Paynter insists that he is not leaving ahead of closer integration and will hang on to his shares in Cazenove when he leaves. “I have no intention of selling my shares, because this is a great investment,” he says.
Cazenove is not expected to replace him directly as vice- chairman. Instead, Paynter’s clients, who include some of the FTSE’s biggest names such as GlaxoSmithKline and Tesco, will be split between a number of senior bankers.