Rob Jolliffe, a bond market veteran, passed away on December 28 following a long battle with Parkinson’s and dementia. He was just 62. Jolliffe was an accomplished professional yet never let his market stature get in the way of his extremely pleasant and affable demeanour. A proud Welshman, he had a ready sense of humour and always had a smile on his face. That’s how people will rightly remember him.
“Rob was a real gent and immediately likeable. He was one of those people you were always glad to be collaborating with on deals. He will be missed by many friends and colleagues,” said Charlie Berman, CEO of agora Digital Capital Markets and a former capital markets banker with decades in the market with senior positions at leading firms.
Another market veteran who worked with Jolliffe twice over the course of his long career preferred to pay tribute anonymously: “Rob was a pleasure to partner with: street-smart, technically competent and a good marketer. He never took things too seriously and a discussion about the state of Welsh rugby, Aston Villa or medieval history was never too far away. He will be remembered fondly by former colleagues and clients alike.”
Jolliffe entered the Eurobond market after graduating from Oxford in 1983, just as the market was beginning its thundering ascent in terms of deal volumes. Starting at CSFB then Merrill Lynch, he jumped to JP Morgan in 1987 where he worked until 1994 in London and Frankfurt in bond sales and syndicate, latterly as joint debt syndicate manager.
He moved to BZW the following year as co-head of bond syndicate and debt finance, spending 18 months at the UK firm before heading to Goldman Sachs as joint head of fixed income in Frankfurt, serving also as head of European syndicate in London, head of FIG origination, and co-head of Eurobonds.
Jolliffe left Goldman after six years, in 2002, for Royal Bank of Scotland as global head of primary operations in debt capital markets, running bond and ABS origination and syndicate.
Symon Drake-Brockman, RBS’s global head of capital markets at the time and now managing partner of private credit manager Pemberton Asset Management, said: “Rob was one of the brightest and most dynamic leaders in the capital markets. He transformed the RBS capital markets team into a market leader by mentoring and leading through example and always offering to share his knowledge and coach younger members of the team. He was an inspiration to us all and will be missed by all who knew him.”
Jolliffe took some time out of the market just as the global financial crisis was brewing, moving to Bath and taking up a number of roles away from finance, including chairman of the board of trustees of the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
He didn’t stay away for long, though, returning in 2009 as co-global head of DCM at UBS in London alongside Mike Davidson, who said: “Rob was a fantastic partner and a true professional. I really enjoyed working with him and am proud of what we accomplished together.” In 2015, Jolliffe joined Deutsche Boerse as head of sales, reporting to then-CEO Carsten Kengeter, to whom he was close; the pair spent many years working at the same firms since the BZW days.
"Rob was one of a kind in every way, personally and professionally,” said Kengeter, a partner at 7Ridge, the private markets asset manager, and a former CEO of UBS’s investment bank (2009–2013) and former Goldman partner. “He enriched our lives with his energy, verve and desire to promote personal growth in others and himself. His deep intellect, youthful physical presence and timeless movie-star looks are omnipresent in our memories.”
Jolliffe was a keen amateur historian and when he owned a house in Pembrokeshire he allowed a local metal detectorist to scan his garden. The detectorist found what is now known as the Tregwynt hoard. It was one of the finest collections of early coins found in the British Isles and is now on display in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, according to a profile on Jolliffe by the National Botanic Garden of Wales written when he stepped down from its board of trustees in 2018.
Jolliffe is survived by his wife Jo and four children, to whom IFR extends our deepest condolences. A celebration of his life takes place in Wiltshire on January 22.
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