Senior management at Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland finally lost patience with their investment bank businesses. Last month, bosses at the two UK lenders announced job cuts and a slimming of their operations, provoked by a series of rate-rigging scandals and fines, too many loss-making departments and pressure to pay high bonuses even to underperforming staff.
It would seem an unpromising environment for a small investment boutique to embark on a growth strategy. Yet, SC Lowy, a fixed income specialist based in Hong Kong, believes niche players can prosper as global banks retrench.
“I noticed that during the worst phases of the 2008 global financial...