People
Following the departure of Kumar Neelakantan to Credit Suisse First Boston in the second quarter, PaineWebber has hired Phillip Millman, most recently an analyst Deutsche Bank. Millman, brought on as an ABS analyst working with Tom Zimmerman, will report to research head Laurie Goodman. Prior to Deutsche, Millman worked at Bear Stearns.
Greg Rosenberg has left the mortgage-backed securities research department at J.P. Morgan & Co. to join the bank's structured finance team. He will be working on synthetics securitizations, and started in his new position last Monday.
Canada
According to Thomson Financial/IFR Canada, National Banks's Vision Trust, a new commercial paper conduit for the National Bank of Canada, has launched their first issue of senior short-term asset-backed notes. The offering totaling C$1 million is rated R-1 (High) by Dominion Bond Rating Service.
There will be two classes of senior short-term notes. The A-class will feature liquidity protection provided by bank credit lines. The second, E-class, has no liquidity protection, but features an extension feature.
Basis100 Inc., recently signed a servicing agreement with TD Bank Financial Group, which will provide TD with mortgage origination technology. This will allow TD to interact directly with consumers through a growing number of Internet portals.
Miscellaneous
Home-equity lender Delta Financial Corp. has announced its plans to dismiss about 120 employees in addition to its plan to cut senior management salaries. The goal is to increase profitability for the company, which has seen a reduction in industry profits.
The law firm of Giancarlo & Gnazzo, A Professional Corporation has changed its name to GnazzoThill, A Professional Corp., effective August 1st. Their practice continues to focus on corporate and structured finance, commercial lending and leasing, insolvency and tax matters. The firm is also pleased to welcome Ruth A. Strauss, formerly of Brown & Wood, LLP, as a shareholder in the firm.
In an effort to cut costs and boost earnings, London-based Barclays Plc has decided to cut 6 percent of its workforce. Barclays has already eliminated 1,000 jobs in the first half and plans to dismiss another 3,200 in the second half.
Calendar
Sept. 11 in New York City: Strategic Research Institute presents The Premier Forum on Risk Securitization. For more information call 1-800-599-4950.
Sept. 11 & 12 in New York City: Frank J. Fabozzi, Inc./ The Information Management Network presents the 7th Annual New York Buy-Side Forum on Commercial Real Estate Finance & Securitization. For more information log onto www.imn.org.
