Contents

Capital Relief Trades

Warehouse deal closed

SRT Market Update

Goldman Sachs is believed to have completed a CRT referencing a pool of US residential mortgage warehouse lines at the end of April.

The portfolio is understood to be sized at US$200m and the sold tranche sized at US$25m, with a 0%-12.5% thickness. Notably, the participating investors are rumoured to have put down a 70% margin. The deal is set to mature at the end of 2027.

Joe Quiruga

Capital Relief Trades

Lloyds prints

SRT Market Update

Lloyds has priced a pair of SRT transactions from its Musselburgh programme.

The recently completed synthetic securitisations are Musselburgh 2024-1 and 2024-2. The first deal has a total portfolio size of £1.5bn and a tranche thickness of 0%-6.25% (representing a note size of around £94m). The second has a total portfolio size of £1.36bn and a tranche thickness of 0%-7.25% (representing a note size of £98m).  

The referenced asset class of both transactions is UK corporate loans, although SCI understands that UK SRT deals can securitise a mixture of corporate loans and real economy assets.

Sources suggested that the spread on the trades would be in the high single-digit to low double-digit range (SCI 26 April). If correct, this would mean the prints are 100bp-200bp tighter than that of last year’s transaction, the debut from the Musselburgh programme (SCI 24 March 2023).

Lloyds may have another SRT transaction in the works this year, with one observer expecting a Salisbury trade to come to market soon. The last issuance from the bank’s SME loan-referencing programme was in November (SCI 5 December 2023).

Joe Quiruga

Capital Relief Trades

EIB Group and BBVA partnership

SRT market update

Details have emerged of an EIB Group investment in Spanish bank BBVA’s synthetic securitisation from March 2024. The international financial institution’s involvement in the transaction included a commitment of €76m from the EIB, and €25m from the EIF in an upper mezzanine tranche. Private investors – including a re-insurance company –  also invested in other tranches of the securitisation structure. This EIB Group investment has enabled BBVA to make a portfolio of mortgages worth more than €200m available to individuals for highly energy-efficient homes.

Last month, the EIB group additionally invested €377m in the true-sale BBVA Consumer 2024 securitisation fund. This investment will enable BBVA to channel nearly €800m into the real economy to finance energy efficiency projects and new mortgages for highly energy-efficient homes.

Vincent Nadeau

Structured Finance

SCI Start the Week - 17 June 2024

A review of SCI's latest content

*SCI’s inaugural Emerging Europe SRT Seminar takes place in Warsaw tomorrow*

Last week's news and analysis
CIRT X 4
Fannie Mae completes fourth deal of the year
Credit risk sharing: Raising the bar for ESG requirements - video
PGGM Investments' Alien Pauw speaks to SCI about ESG and investing in credit risk sharing
Job swaps weekly: Guy Carpenter lures Schnieders to lead new division
People moves and key promotions in securitisation
Latest SRTx fixings released
The SRT market is showing positive performance
Low supply?
SRT Market Update
Norway gets SecReg green light
True sale/synthetics rules adopted plus UK renewables ABS debuts
Polish SRT incoming
SRT Market Update
Private credit marketplace launched
Figure Technology introduces blockchain-based multi-seller, multi-buyer marketplace
Ratings rapture
US reg cap deals seek AAAs, but not so European
Three deals and a print
SRT Market Update
Tailoring TRS
Demica argues data plays a critical role in successful trade receivables securitisation
Plus
Deal-focused updates from our ABS Markets and CLO Markets services

SCI In Conversation podcast
The latest episode is a special for International Women's Day in which SCI deputy editor Kenny Wastell speaks to Ruhi Patil, a counsel in Dentons' London office, about gender diversity and inclusion in the structured finance industry.
The episode can be accessed here, as well as wherever you usually get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (just search for ‘SCI In Conversation’).

SRTx benchmark
SCI’s SRTx (Significant Risk Transfer Index), is a benchmark that measures the estimated prevailing new-issue price spread for generic private market risk transfer transactions. Calculated and rebalanced on a monthly basis by Mark Fontanilla & Co, the index provides market participants with a benchmark reference point for pricing in the private risk transfer market by aggregating issuer and investor views on pricing. For more information on SRTx or to register your interest as a contributor, click here.

Upcoming SCI events
Emerging Europe SRT Seminar
18 June 2024, Warsaw

Regional Bank-CRT Seminar
24 September 2024, Chicago

CRT Training for New Market Entrants
14-15 October, London

Women In Risk Sharing
15th October, London

10th Annual Capital Relief Trades Seminar
16 & 17 October 2024, London

2nd Annual European CRE Finance Seminar
November 2024, London

Capital Relief Trades

Fed OKs Merchants

2023 Merchants Bank CLN approved for RWA calculations

The Federal Reserve has granted retroactive approval for the Merchants Bank of Indiana Reference Notes, Series 2023-1 CLN, sold in March last year, to be treated as a synthetic securitization for risk weighted asset (RWA) calculations.

The letter, dated June 5, was addressed to Michael Petrie, chairman and ceo of the bank, and was in response to a letter of May 21.

The deal, which had a face value of US$158bn, securitized a US$1.3bn reference pool of healthcare commercial real estate loans.

Subsequent CLNs may also be treated as synthetic securitizations as long as they are “structured and documented in a substantially identical manner.”

Simon Boughey

CMBS

Double trouble

Senior UK CMBS noteholders face losses after property sale

The full write-down of the outstanding balance of the class B to E notes and a partial loss on the class A notes issued by Elizabeth Finance 2018 is anticipated on the October IPD, marking the first post-crisis loss on a triple-A rated (at closing) European CMBS tranche. The move comes after the special servicer Mount Street accepted a bid of £35m for the sale of the three UK shopping centre properties securing the £69.6m (original balance) Maroon loan securitised in the transaction.

The selected bid is expected to deliver net proceeds of around £31.5m to noteholders once fees - including three sales fees, special servicing fees and administration fees - and VAT have been paid and funds have been allocated towards unwinding the securitisation, resulting in an approximately 50% principal loss on the loan (which has an outstanding balance of £62.8m). At transaction level, this would result in a loss of the whole remaining notional balance across all non-senior notes, according to Morningstar DBRS. The rating agency projects that the class A notes (with an outstanding balance of £33.6m) will incur a partial principal loss of 6.4% or more, depending on transaction-level senior ranking items, including interest due on the notes.

The offer is in the form of a cash purchase and represents the highest portfolio bid received during the sales process. The special servicer and the selected purchaser - which will remain anonymous until exchange - signed a heads of terms agreement for the proposed sale, with exchange expected next month and completion a month later.

Elizabeth Finance 2018 is a securitisation of initially two senior commercial real estate loans that Goldman Sachs International Bank advanced in August 2018. The £21.2m MCR loan - which refinanced an office asset, Universal Square, located in Manchester - was repaid in full on the October 2020 IPD.

Meanwhile, the Maroon loan breached its LTV covenant in January 2020 after a revaluation. The initial special servicer, CBRE, subsequently agreed to a standstill until the initial loan maturity in January 2021 to allow the borrower time to provide an exit strategy.

However, CBRE considered the exit strategy to be unsatisfactory and accelerated the loan in October 2020, with the common security agent appointing fixed-charge receivers to dispose of the three assets securing the loan. Following the appointment of the receivers, the controlling class D noteholders exercised their right to replace CBRE with Mount Street as the special servicer, which temporarily suspended the sale of the portfolio and implement asset management initiatives. Waypoint Asset Management took over as asset manager in June 2022 and sought to rebase the in-place leases and collect the rent in arrears.

The most recent valuation for the three properties was conducted in January 2020, when CBRE appraised the portfolio at £68.9m, representing a 34% drop in value from £104.7m at origination in 2018, resulting in the LTV covenant breach. The special servicer began marketing the properties in 1Q24, with the agreed sales price representing a 49% decline from the 2020 valuation and a 67% decline from the 2018 valuation.

Morningstar DBRS has downgraded its credit ratings to single-C on the class A to D notes to reflect the near-certainty of principal losses on the transaction. The agency had previously assigned the class A notes a single-A rating, while S&P last month downgraded them from single-A minus to triple-B minus.

Mount Street is currently finalising an updated valuation commissioned in respect of the Maroon properties and will disclose the results in due course.

Corinne Smith

Capital Relief Trades

Embracing diversity

Regulators urged to recognise importance of internal models

Recent proposals regarding the application of the revised Basel 3 standards in the UK and the US favour the standardised approach and include strict restrictions on the use of internal models for calculating regulatory capital. A new paper from PGGM outlines the firm’s concerns that such standardised risk weights oversimplify the diversity in the real world and could disincentivise banks to maintain adequate risk measurement tools.

“Under [the Basel 3] proposals, banks are incentivised - or even required - to use the same standardised view of risk. When everyone measures risk the same way, they will all mitigate the same risks, but will also all ignore the same risks. This greatly increases the probability that one such risk materialising will affect a large cross-section of banks in the financial system – the definition of systemic risk,” the PGGM paper explains.

In terms of credit risk sharing (CRS) transactions, PGGM notes that by sharing the credit risk of banks’ core lending activities, investors also share in the quality of their risk measurement and management. “The better banks measure and manage their credit risk, the more comfort we have and the better we can price a transaction. Conversely, when banks become strongly disincentivised to maintain adequate risk measurement tools - such as internal rating models - investors will have to become more conservative in their assessment, if they get sufficient comfort to invest at all,” the paper states.

The advanced internal ratings-based approach (IRBA) to credit risk allows banks to develop their own sophisticated internal models to determine the inputs for capital charges on their credit exposures. Under the advanced IRBA, banks can model the probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD) and exposure-at-default (EAD) levels, which are essential for understanding the risk of a credit portfolio.

Under the current Basel 3 Endgame proposals in the US, however, none of these metrics would be modelled as they would be replaced by fixed risk weights. In the UK, only PD would still be estimated using internal models, while LGD and EAD would be prescribed.

“As a long-term investor, we see this as a potential negative impact on credit risk modelling practices, as well as on the availability of risk metrics and historical data to investors in exposures on banks’ balance sheets,” PGGM states.

As an investor in CRS, PGGM shares in the credit risk of over 15 banks, active across the globe. “Through due diligence at various banks over the last 18 years, we have learned that a variety of well-performing PD and LGD models is in use. Banks are uniquely capable of modelling the individual components of credit risk. Combined with extensive experience to lending in particular markets and industries, this leads to a wealth of current and historic performance data, which makes it possible to model and test appropriate PD and LGD assumptions,” the firm argues.

Part of PGGM’s due diligence process involves checking the track record of these models. If the firm is not comfortable with the model performance pertaining to a given transaction, it does not invest in it.

“That said, we are generally impressed by the strength and sophistication of banks’ credit risk modelling, and the robust governance set up to make sure these models remain in the best possible shape. Overall, banks have shown that their own PD and LGD models are highly effective for estimating expected losses,” PGGM confirms.

Developing and maintaining sophisticated internal models requires a significant investment by the banks. Through these models, banks have a comprehensive and detailed view of their portfolios and risk drivers, which filters through into efficiency of capital allocation. Efficient capital allocation, in turn, benefits economic growth, as firms that are well-managed, with sound financial performance and robust capital structures will be prioritised in attracting the capital required to grow.

Overall, PGGM argues that restrictions on using internal models for credit risk capital requirements do not contribute to the goals of the Basel standards. “We strongly support the use of internal models, because this approach incentivises banks to model, monitor and manage the risk factors constituting the expected loss profile of exposures on their balance sheets in a holistic and comprehensive way. By permitting banks to apply modelled PD, LGD and EAD metrics, as foreseen under the advanced IRBA, banks are incentivised to develop and maintain robust models for these metrics,” the paper concludes.

Corinne Smith

Capital Relief Trades

Special situations

Jean-Francois Leclerc and Carlo Perri of Polar Asset Management Partners' structured credit team answer SCI's questions

Q: Can you give us some background to SRT at Polar?
CP: Polar has been investing in SRTs since the mid-2010s and more broadly in structured credit for over 15 years. Historically, we have focused on what we call ‘special situations’ - new issuers, new asset classes, innovative structures and difficult market conditions.

Last year we added JF Leclerc to our team, who joined us from a Canadian bank where he led the team responsible for SRT issuances and adding to our existing expertise to support the growth of our platform (SCI 10 August 2023). We also launched a dedicated SRT fund this year in furtherance of the strategy (SCI 17 May).

JFL: Our focus will remain on special situations. We understand that banks want to partner with investors that can support them across different platforms and through cycles. As such, we are looking to expand beyond special situations and become banks’ go-to partner for a full suite of SRT needs.

Q: What does ‘risk-sharing’ mean to you?
CP: Risk sharing is about working with the right partners and having a mutual aligned interest that benefits all parties. While the word ‘partnership’ might be overused in our industry, we truly believe in such an approach and it has been a differentiator for us.

In particular, when working on special situations, banks look for partners with whom they can discuss areas of interest and develop solutions. When properly executed, this approach aligns all interested parties and results in risk sharing.

Q: How significant are barriers to entry in this market?
JFL: I think we need to bifurcate the market into two main segments. First, there are vanilla transactions where the underlying portfolio is comprised of predominately investment grade names. That portion of the market has few barriers to entry and increasing interest from various investors.

The second portion of the market – where we focus – is made up of more complex transactions, either because of a more specialised underlying portfolio or due to more complex structural features. That segment has high barriers to entry.

Banks want to partner with investors who can analyse, add value to the structuring process and have a strong history of transaction closing success.

Such value-add comes from deep expertise in structuring, credit and banks’ regulatory capital and risk management requirements. Fewer investors can offer this type of expertise.

Q: How do you source deals in this market?
CP: Our primary source of transactions is from the institutional relationships that we have with banks that Polar has developed as a hedge fund with over 30 years of history. As a Canadian-based institution, we have particularly strong relationships with Canadian banks. In addition, our global investment mandate provides additional institutional relationships and opportunities with non-Canadian banks as well.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with issuers in the SRT space?
CP: I think issuers see us as value-add and flexible partners. Our approach throughout the investment process is geared towards being a long-term partner.

Q: Is the SRT market, in your view, still relatively under-invested?
JFL: I don’t think we can say that the market is under-invested. There appears to be more capital coming into the space.

I think we must bifurcate vanilla transactions and the more bespoke, value-add ones. New capital seems focused on the former; whereas the complexity of the latter makes it more difficult to quickly deploy without the necessary expertise.

Q: Do you have specific preferences regarding asset classes or jurisdictions?
CP: Over the years, we have been active with banks from Canada, the UK and continental Europe. While most of our transactions have referenced North American portfolios, we continue to work on global portfolios with the appropriate banks.

Q: Do you typically prefer blind or disclosed pools and why?
CP: I don’t think we have an outright preference. Polar’s SRT platform is part of the overall structured credit team, where we’ve been working for decades on transactions referencing blind pools across different products and asset classes.

As such, we’ve developed the necessary statistical expertise and tools to support the credit underwriting of blind pools. So, as long as the bank provides the necessary historical information, we can work on that basis.

Polar also has a strong fundamental credit team. As such, the structured credit team has the right internal partners to evaluate single-name credits for evaluating a disclosed pool.

Q: What does your underwriting approach involve?
JFL: Our adjudication process is anchored in three key pillars: portfolio risk adjudication and structuring; in-depth due diligence of the issuing bank; and a robust governance process. For portfolio risk adjudication and structuring process, we see three main components.

First, we determine the risk profile of the portfolio. For a disclosed pool, this generally takes the form of individual name review by our fundamental credit team. For a blind pool, this is driven by statistical analysis of the bank’s historical performance, supplemented with external data.

Second, once we have a good sense of the risk profile of the portfolio, we work with the issuing bank on terms and conditions (e.g., refining portfolio criteria, tranching, etc.). Based on this, we model expected return under various historical scenarios from expected base case to severely stressed, all supplemented with Monte Carlo simulation.

Finally, we conduct a thorough review of the transaction documentation. The SRT team generally works with Polar’s internal legal (we benefit from having a securitisation lawyer in the team) and external counsel.

Q: Regarding the market this year, what specific trends have you identified?
JFL: The arrival of new entrants is well documented. And this is clearly leading to some transactions being priced more aggressively and/or with features that are more issuer-friendly.

We have observed this behaviour mainly on the plain-vanilla, broadly syndicated transactions, with some concern over relative value. Many banks continue to approach SRT as long-term partnerships, where they work with a select group of investors through market cycles, and everyone seeks to generate win-win transactions.

Q: Do you plan to increase your allocation to the sector going forward?
CP: Yes. Historically, we invested in SRT through our main Multi Strategy Fund and, for larger transactions, we have introduced co-investors. The newly dedicated fund allows it to invest in larger transactions. As this fund is the first in a series, we anticipate allocating more capital and resources to the strategy.

Vincent Nadeau

RMBS

Bereft of banks

MBS languishes as the market waits for the banks and the Fed

Like many in the US ABS market, portfolio manager Brendan Doucette is waiting for the Federal Reserve to issue new guidance on Basel III Endgame (B3E).

He runs a US$1.5bn book at Boston-based GW&K Investment Management, 90% composed of agency MBS, and the implications of B3E have taken bank demand largely out of the market.

Until more clarity is offered on the extent to which the Fed is prepared to row back from its initial version of B3E – if at all – the bank bid is out of the market.

The situation is further complicated by uncertainty about cuts in rates. At the beginning of the year, the market frothily priced in up to six rate adjustments, but by the end of H1 nothing has happened. Inflation has not receded as much as the Fed had hoped, and only two cuts are now expected before the end of H2.

MBS securities are particularly sensitive to rates due to prepayment risk, and this adds to the reluctance to add duration in the form of MBS risk many on the buy side feel. Fewer rate cuts that were forecast six months ago have excised the prepayments that were built into models.

“Banks are waiting on more clarity on B3E and a better sense of the Fed rate path. The persistent inverted yield curve and uncertainty around the Fed and Basel III are keeping the banks on the sidelines. I anticipate more transparency on both items in the second half of the year, which should lead to more bank participation,” says Doucette.

The lack of bank demand has allowed MBS yields to creep higher, particularly as the Fed is continuing to roll mortgage paper off the balance sheet at a rate of around US$15-20bn per month. To some extent this has been offset and technicals boosted by low new issuance volumes, but a return of bank buying would come in handy.

Spreads in, say, unsecured corporate debt, are narrower because there is less reliance on bank buying and, as there is no prepayment risk, they are less correlated to the likelihood of rate cuts.

Volatility was generally low in H1, with the exception of when Truist sold its remaining stake in Truist Insurance Holdings to a private equity consortium for US$15.5bn in February, the gains of which were offset by selling lower coupon MBS bonds in May.

It is expected to remain low in H2, especially as the expectations for Fed rate cuts have been downscaled so significantly.

Finding value in H1 has not been easy in H1, but bonds comprised by 100% Florida-based mortgages proved an exception. There has been higher price appreciation in this state than most in the first six months of the year, and turnover has been higher as well in part due to higher insurance costs and state taxes.

“One hundred per cent Florida specified pools generally have a CPR (conditional prepayment rate) which is one to two CPR faster than generic pools when they are 200-300bp out of the money to refinance. This seems like an insignificant amount, but it is a performance driver when the pools are trading at a 10-point discount to par,” explains Doucette.

Simon Boughey

Structured Finance

Private credit JV formed

Market updates and sector developments

Stifel Financial Corp and Lord Abbett have formed a substantial leveraged lending joint venture, which compliments the existing capabilities of both firms. Called SBLA Private Credit, the JV will focus on both new issue and existing loans to small and mid-sized portfolio companies of financial sponsors.

SBLA Private Credit brings together two of the industry’s most established brands, with in-depth coverage across the middle market and reputations for strategic growth and disciplined risk management. Combining the strength of Stifel’s full-service platform and direct lending capabilities with Lord Abbett’s leveraged credit presence and capital base, the JV is uniquely positioned for success in today’s origination market, according to the two firms.

SBLA Private Credit will be equally managed by senior representatives from Stifel Bank and Lord Abbett. As a demonstration of both firms’ strong and aligned credit cultures, they have already co-invested across multiple loans.

In other news…

Residual sale accounting error identified
LendInvest has identified what it describes as “an isolated issue” with the accounting advice concerning the sale of its non-risk retention residual economic interest in the Mortimer BTL 2023-1 RMBS (SCI ABS Markets Daily - 22 November 2023). The error will result in downward adjustments to its previously expected NOI and profit before tax for full-year 2024.

On 5 January, LendInvest announced that the sale of the residual interest for a net consideration of £5m would generate a net gain of approximately £12.1m before tax. However, the firm has now disclosed that there is an issue relating to swap and hedge accounting assumptions that include mark-to-market adjustments and fair value hedge accounting applied as part of the derecognition calculation. On the basis of its revised derecognition calculation in respect of the sale, the firm advises the market to disregard the previously expected net gain.

The adjustments have no impact on LendInvest's current cash position and guidance for full-year 2025 remains unchanged with respect to its expectation of returning to profitability during the financial year. Full-year results for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024 and an update on the firm’s strategy will be announced in July.

Corinne Smith

Structured Finance

Job swaps weekly: Fitch appoints successor to outgoing Murray

People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Fitch Ratings appointing a successor to outgoing BRM head for structured finance Douglas Murray. Elsewhere, Barings has hired a BlackRock director to lead European real estate debt portfolio management, while King & Spalding has rehired two structured finance partners who left the firm for Milbank last year.

Fitch Ratings has promoted Anjali Sharma to global business and relationship management (BRM) head for structured finance, taking over from the retiring Douglas Murray. Sharma is based in the ratings agency’s London office and will assume the role from the start of July, reporting to Mark Oline, global BRM head.

Sharma joined Fitch 11 years ago and is promoted from global BRM head of US public finance, international public finance and global infrastructure. Prior to joining Fitch she spent 17 years working in leveraged finance, corporate banking and loan syndication at banks including National Australia Bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Credit Lyonnais Securities and HSBC.

Meanwhile, Barings has hired BlackRock director Rupert Gill to head up portfolio management for European real estate debt. Gill will be based in London and report to Nasir Alamgir, head of US and European real estate debt. He leaves his role as head of European real estate debt at BlackRock after almost seven year with the firm, and previously worked at Hatfield Philips International and Lloyds Banking Group.

Gill will be responsible for the management of the European real estate debt portfolio management group; oversee strategy development and execution of investment solutions; and sit on the European real estate debt investment and valuation committees.

King & Spalding has rehired structured finance partners, Katie Weiss and Martin Eid, following the departure of the Urschel-Weiss-Eid group for Milbank last year (SCI 24 April 2023). The departures come after fellow partner Michael Urschel, who moved from King & Spalding with Weiss and Eid last year, also recently left Milbank for Kirkland & Ellis to establish a new borrower-side practice (SCI 7 June). Weiss and Eid will return to King & Spalding in its finance and restructure practice in New York, and will continue their lender-side advisory on esoteric transactions and private credit.

Greystone has hired Fannie Mae veteran William Iacobucci as senior director for real estate lending, based in Atlanta. He will report to senior mds Charlie Mentzer and Brad Waite. Iacobucci leaves his role as vice president of multifamily structured finance after 12 years with Fannie Mae. He will be responsible for leading Greystone’s lending activity in student housing finance and structured finance.

Biagio Giacalone has joined Christofferson Robb & Company as ceo of the firm’s Italian operations. Based in Milan, Giacalone will lead CRC’s investing initiatives in Italy, focusing on growth and value creation. With over 30 years of experience in structured finance and credit portfolio management, he was previously the head of the active credit portfolio steering department at Intesa Sanpaolo, managing credit portfolios for capital optimisation purposes and overseeing the group’s NPL plan.

ING has promoted Jordan Batchelor to global head of asset securitisation. He has relocated to the Netherlands, having spent the last four and a half years in Singapore as a director and then md, head of asset securitisation Asia Pacific. Before joining ING in January 2020, Batchelor was a director, structured capital markets at ANZ in Sydney.

Enrica Landolfi has joined P&G Alternative Investments as senior advisor for funds development, based in Rome. She was formerly head of ABS origination for continental Europe and structured finance for Italy at HSBC, which she joined in May 2005. Before that, Landolfi worked in DCM and structured finance origination at UBM.

Tramontana Asset Management has recruited Sergio Ravich Calafell as md, focusing on further developing the firm’s energy transition and sustainable finance franchise. He has previously worked at UniCredit as an md, Bear Stearns as senior md and EMEA head of credit structuring and marketing, and Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Bankers Trust in fixed income and derivatives roles.

Lendable has hired structured finance banker Sharad Prakash as head of Asia, fintech investments, based in Singapore. He previously led Citi’s private credit markets and solutions team in Asia, having worked in credit products and solutions roles at JPMorgan and Barclays before that.

And finally, Natixis Investment Managers subsidiary Ostrum Asset Management has appointed Gaëlle Théaud-Gautheron as chief operating officer. Théaud-Gautheron has been with the Natixis group for three years and leaves her role as managing partner – transformation management office at Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking. She starts her new role at the beginning of July, will report to md Olivier Houix, and will be in charge of optimising the organisation and efficiency of key processes.

Corinne Smith, Claudia Lewis, Kenny Wastell