Barclays' FX options traders keep moving on, but hey

FX traders are possibly not having a good time. Morgan Stanley's European banking analysts noted that trading volumes for FX derivatives fell 5% year-on-year in the second quarter and that the FX VIX index was down 25% over the same period. If you're an FX trader, this could be a good moment to switch seats. 

💥Follow us on WhatsApp for news alerts.💥

This might be what's occurring at Barclays, where FX options traders have been moving on. This is seemingly the result of purest coincidence.

The exits include six traders at various levels of seniority. Mukund Daga, Barclays' global head of FX Options trading left in June, four months after moving from Singapore. Adnane Ait Omar, the London-based global head of eFX options trading left in May 2026, despite only joining in July 2025. 

In June, Dominic Booth, a London based director in FX options trading at Barclays went to UBS. In the US, another trader - Nathaniel Jones -  left for Ionic Capital Management. Ibrahim Hamati is understood to have recently resigned in New York, along with a colleague who's joining a hedge fund.

Two of the departures are thought to be going to Nomura. Daga is understood to be joining the Japanese bank as global head of FX options trading, but is presumably on gardening leave and didn't respond to a request to comment for this article. Hamati is thought to be joining Nomura in New York. 

Nomura and Barclays declined to comment.

Why are so many FX options traders leaving the British bank? It may simply be a strange coincidence like the arrival of four Amazon parcels at once. In some cases, family reasons are thought to have spurred the moving-on. 

In other cases, though, Barclays' FX options traders are thought to have left due to pay-related disgruntlement. There are suggestions that they can earn 25%-40% more elsewhere. There are also suggestions that they're supposed to work hard at Barclays and produce PnL comparable to US banks, but US banks pay more.

Follow me on X. Follow me on LinkedIn. 

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22  Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. 

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.