Chase Manhattan's drive into the European capital markets took a severe knock last week, when the bank confirmed that Stephen Tye, the head of trading, has left less than a year after staging a high-profile return to the capital markets.

Tye, one of a triumvirate of senior investment bankers hired to build a debt capital markets business off Chase's clout in the commercial loans market, is understood to be setting up a new internet venture. Before joining Chase, Tye ran Online Finance, an internet-based finance company specialising in providing consumer loans.