Job Swaps

Bank expands securitisation unit

Wednesday 10 October 2007 00:00 London/ 19.00 (- 1 day) New York/ 08.00 Tokyo

The latest company and people moves

Bank expands securitisation unit
nabCapital, the institutional banking and capital markets division of National Australia Bank, announces that Chris Leslie and Sandie Staimesse have joined its London-based Securitisation Group, with primary responsibilities for securities arbitrage sourcing and execution. Both roles report to Tony Gioulis, head of securitisation UK/Europe.

Leslie joins nabCapital as a director. Latterly with Gordian Knot, he has more than seven years of structured credit experience, with a main focus on senior CDO investments and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Staimesse joins nabCapital as an associate director. Most recently with WAMCO, prior to that she worked at Citigroup Asset Management.

Gioulis comments: "Chris and Sandie are joining us at a pivotal point in the evolution of the asset-backed market. Their extensive sector experience will enable us to capitalise on current market opportunities, ultimately enhancing our established position as a major securitisation player in the European arena."

Index trading head quits
Ian Gladen has left his role as head of credit index trading at Bank of Montreal. His destination is not yet known.

Manager adds in-house analyst
Former Lehman Brothers ABS CDO analyst Michael Koss has joined Scottwood Capital Management as a senior investment analyst. He will cover the asset-backed securities sector in a new role at the firm, which in light of current of current market conditions decided to bring such expertise in-house on a full-time basis.

PIMCO hires prop trader
PIMCO has appointed Luke Spajic as head of European credit strategy and senior portfolio manager. He will be based in London and report to Scott Mather, md and head of portfolio management Europe at PIMCO.

Spajic is joining PIMCO from Goldman Sachs, where he was an executive director and a proprietary trader specialising in macro trading across a broad array of global markets including credit and emerging markets. Prior to that role, he was a vp at Highbridge Capital where he focussed on trading non-US credit.

Babson promotes in loans
Babson Capital Management has announced that Russell Morrison and Marcus Sowell, who are both mds with the firm, have been named co-heads of the US bank loan team. They succeed Thomas Finke, who last month was named president of Babson Capital. Morrison and Sowell will continue to report to Finke.

Morrison and Sowell joined the Babson bank loan team's predecessor, First Union Institutional Debt Management, in the spring of 2000. Babson Capital acquired the business unit from First Union/Wachovia Corporation in June 2002.

Merrill heads exit
Head of European credit, Dale Lattanzio, and head of fixed income trading, Osman Semerci, have both left Merrill Lynch. Market speculation continues that there will be more senior credit exits in the near term.

Such speculation is understandable, given Merrill's announcement of write-downs of an estimated US$4.5bn, net of hedges. This, the bank says, was related to incremental third-quarter market impact on the value of CDOs and sub-prime mortgages.

"These valuation adjustments reflect in part significant dislocations in the highest-rated tranches of these securities which were affected by an unprecedented move in credit spreads and a lack of market liquidity in these securities, which intensified during the third quarter. During the quarter, the company significantly reduced its overall exposure to these asset classes," Merrill says.

10/10/2007