Merrill Lynch/Yates The client guys

It is unusual for a senior investment banker to walk away from his job at the peak of his powers. But two have done so in the past two months. First Peter Weinberg said he was leaving Goldman Sachs International. Now Philip Yates is quitting Merrill Lynch. Both are so-called «client guys» – trusted to advise chief executives impartially on mergers, and not to pester them with unwanted pitches for financings and the like. Might there be a common thread here? The departures coincide with a clear ...