Societe Generale has made three new research hires in its fixed income and currencies businesses, which suffered weak revenues in the second quarter of this year, Financial News has learnt.

Simon Cowie joined Societe Generale in July as a director in credit research from rival bank UBS. Cowie will focus on the retail, consumer and leisure sectors, according to his LinkedIn profile and a source familiar with the matter. At UBS he worked as an analyst in credit trading, and prior to joining the Swiss bank he worked at former fund manager Gartmore in credit fund management. Cowie has trading experience from his three-year stint as a proprietary trader at HSBC, which came to a close in 2007.