It's that time of the year again in the structured finance industry: musical chairs continues on the Street.
On the heels of MBS and ABS research head Jim Titus' migration from Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Co. to GMAC Commercial Mortgage, DLJ has hired six residential mortgage-backed securities traders to its shop, and is said to be interested in a major asset-backed securities player for its roster.
Sources indicate that most recently, DLJ has been courting Credit Suisse First Boston's asset securitization research head, Karen Weaver, in the midst of the mass defection from First Boston's ABS department which was the buzz of the market last week.
The CSFB influx does not stop there. Simultaneously, DLJ has made a concerted effort to boost its MBS shop by hiring several high-profile traders and analysts, including Mitchell Levine, former head of whole-loan collateralized mortgage obligations at First Boston. Levine will be managing director at DLJ.
Additionally, Marc Tecotzky, former head of agency CMOs at PaineWebber, was also hired as managing director, according to Tim Cullum, a spokesman at DLJ.
"These hires were meant to make our MBS shop more complete, and a stronger player in the market," Cullum said. "This makes DLJ more of a full-service mortgage shop."
Another significant addition to DLJ's team is the inclusion of Jeff Detwiler, former managing director of all securitization at Residential Funding Corp., a subsidiary of GMAC, and Daniel Thompson, former managing director of RFC's asset management group.
Some market observers mentioned that such defections, from a private issuer to the Street, are considered atypical people moves. "Dealers are often concerned that if they recruit from their customers, that can be viewed as a raid' and can impair what had been otherwise cordial relationships," said one market source knowledgeable about the move. "In this case, Residential Funding Corp. is a high quality and high volume issuer, and no one would willingly offend RFC."
Additionally, DLJ also hired Brett Marvin from Societe Generale as head of adjustable-rate mortgages, and Brian Bowes, from the Metropolitian Transit Association, as vice president of ARMs.
However, DLJ competitor Chase Securities Inc. made an effort to improve its league table rankings by grabbing two DLJ alumni. Bob King, formerly a managing director at DLJ, will head Chase's passthrough MBS operations. Additionally, Alan Galishoff, also from DLJ, migrated to Chase earlier in the month to be the company's head of CMO and mortgage derivatives operations.
