Legal
Singapore-Based Headhunter In Lawsuit With BSI Over 23-Strong Team Move - Media
An executive search firm in Asia is in legal dispute with a private bank, claiming it was circumvented in a move of 23 bankers.
BSI Bank in Singapore, which is now owned by Brazil’s BTG Pactual, has been sued for $7.1 million ($5 million) amid claims that it had not paid a headhunter for recruiting a team of 23 bankers.
The suit, according to a report by Bloomberg, has been brought by Mancano and Associates.
The headhunter says it successfully referred employees including deputy chief executive Raj Sriram to BSI, according to the report, which quoted a lawsuit filed in November last year in the Singapore High Court. BSI bypassed Mancano and directly hired candidates the headhunter recommended from 2009.
WealthBriefingAsia has contacted BSI and Michael Mancano, managing director at the eponymous firm, for comment. BSI declined to comment on the matter.
In court papers, BSI reportedly said Mancano has no basis for its claims and there was no binding agreement with the search firm.
Michael Mancano said in court papers he and BSI’s chief executive, Hanspeter Brunner, have worked together since 1997 to recruit bankers for Brunner’s then-employer Coutts. Both men had a “common understanding” and operated on trust, Mancano reportedly said in court papers.
There was no "accepted practice" between Brunner and Mancano as claimed, the bank reportedly said. BSI had earlier rejected Mancano’s bill in 2013 for S$38 million for recruiting the 23 candidates, according to court papers. The headhunter has been paid S$250,000 for administrative work and no more payments are due, BSI was quoted as saying.
The search firm’s fees are 28 percent of an employee’s first-year pay package which includes a basic wage of as much as S$550,000 for a senior private banker, target bonus and joining payment, according to Mancano’s lawsuit.
As reported late last year, Switzerland-headquartered BSI, which was sold to BTG Pactual in 2015 with the transaction ending as recently as last September, might be put up for sale by its Brazilian parent as that firm has become engulfed in a national corruption scandal. The banks have declined to comment on that matter.
