ABS pros at Banc One Capital Markets expect to hear sometime this week about their future within the post-merger JPMorgan Chase/Bank One Corp. entity. Despite JPMorgan Chase's role as acquirer in the transaction, many remain hopeful that Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon will retain asset-backed employees for when he takes over as the combined entity within two years.
ING Bank has hired Bruce Miller as a managing director to head its asset-backed commercial paper origination and private placement group, sources said. Miller had been a director in Credit Suisse First Boston's ABCP origination group. ING runs two conduits, Mont Blanc Capital Corp. and Mane Funding Corp, with outstandings totaling roughly $14 billion.
In London, ING recently added Fazel Ahmed, formerly of CIBC World Markets, to head it European structured finance effort.
Ken Bradt is no longer with DZ Bank. Bradt was formerly heading the securitization group at DZ and was at ING prior to that. DZ has hired Rod Hudder from Merrill Lynch.
Charles Kobayashi has taken over as portfolio manager at CDO collateral manager Credit Agricole Indosuez. Kobayashi has been a portfolio manager with CAI since joining the firm from ORIX USA in December 2001. He reports to Simon Eedle. Kobayashi takes over for Paul Travers, who recently left the firm. CAI is collateral manager on five CDOs issued since 1996.
Gary Witt and Yuri Yoshizawa were recently promoted within Moody's Investors Service derivatives group to managing directors. Both Witt and Yoshizawa joined Moody's in 2000 and previously held the titles of vice president/senior credit officer. They continue reporting to group Managing Director Noel Kirnon.
Deutsche Bank Securities announced last week the hiring of Victoria Averbukh as a director in its U.S. mortgage strategy team. Averbukh will be responsible for CMO research and analysis and will be based in New York, reporting to Managing Director and Head of Mortgage and Cross-Rates Strategy Alec Crawford. Averbukh had been vice president in the mortgage strategy group at Citigroup Global Markets, where she worked for the past seven years.
Wachovia Corporate Trust recently hired George Colonias and Tara Mori as new business development officers in its Structured Finance Trust Services group, the company announced. Colonias will be based in New York and Mori will be based in Charlotte. Both will report to John Shope, national sales director of Corporate and Institutional Trust Services.
Barclays Capital has hired Managing Director Michael Mazzei to head its U.S. Real Estate and Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities team in New York. Mazzei joins from Lehman Brothers, where he worked in the fixed-income CMBS group since its inception in 1986. In his new position, Mazzei will report to Grant Kvalheim, head of Global Investment Banking and Credit Products.
Debt tracker Fitch Ratings last week removed Fairbanks Capital Corp.'s servicer ratings from ratings watch negative, having been placed on watch last Oct. 8. Fitch also affirmed the firm's RPS3-' residential primary servicer ratings for subprime and home equity products,'RPS3' servicer rating for Alt-A product and its RSS3' special servicer rating.
WestLB has contracted Principia Partners to manage its new Harrier Finance Lt SIV. Under the agreement, WestLB will integrate the Principia system with its existing portfolio and risk management tools to manage the entire SIV operation from the deal capture through to accounting.
Speaking before the Economic Club of New York last week, FOMC Chairman Alan Greenspan said he did not mean to "disparage" the traditional fixed-rate mortgage, claiming that they are one of the "great inventions" in the marketplace. Previously, the Fed chairman told credit union representatives that homeowners would have saved thousands of dollars had they opted for adjustable-rate mortgages over the past 10 years. Greenspan claimed to have spoken "imprecisely" and that his remarks were directed towards a narrow segment of borrowers who are not well served by either 30-year mortgages or currently available ARM products.
Wall Street Analytics Inc., a software provider for the structured finance market, is rolling out a new division aimed at serving issuers looking to outsource bond administration and deal surveillance, the company announced last week. "Clients will now have the option to outsource the ongoing work to us here in the service bureau," said managing director Thomas Geraghty. Both Geraghty and Alan Srebro, also a managing director, recently rejoined the firm after a stint with software provider Emphasis Technologies.
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