Barclays hires Birchenough as chairman of healthcare investment banking

By David Carnevali

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Barclays (LON:) Plc has hired Jim Birchenough from Wells Fargo (NYSE:) & Co as its chairman of global healthcare investment banking, a spokesperson for the British bank confirmed, after Reuters reported on the appointment on Friday.

Birchenough last served as vice chairman of biopharma investment banking at Wells Fargo. A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment.

Birchenough, who will be based in San Francisco, had previously worked at Barclays as a research analyst covering biotech companies. He held similar roles at BMO Capital Markets and Lehman Brothers in the early part of his career.

In his new role, Birchenough will also lead Barclays’ global biopharma investment banking unit alongside Alexis de Rosnay, who joined the bank last year and is taking on an expanded role in addition to his responsibilities as chairman of global healthcare investment banking.

Birchenough’s addition is a boost to the bank’s healthcare investment banking unit, which had been hit by the departure of its vice chairman Darren Campili who left for Wells Fargo earlier this year.

“Jim has a real track record and it’s well known within the industry, both from his tenure as a banker and his tenure as a research analyst,” said Richard Landgarten, global head of healthcare and real estate investment banking at Barclays.

More than two dozen U.S. investment bankers have left Barclays since January when it named two new global co-heads of investment banking. They are Cathal Deasy, former co-head of Credit Suisse Group AG investment banking and capital markets, and Taylor Wright, former co-head of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) global capital markets.