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Whispers

ABN AMRO hired Brad Dansker as a managing director in its U.S. ABS originations team to focus on the auto loan and equipment sectors. Dansker, formerly of JPMorgan Securities, had run the auto sectors at JPMorgan since its merger with Chase Securities in late 2000. Dansker started his career at Chemical Bank and worked his way up through the ranks to be named MD at JPMorgan in May 2002. While it is unclear at this time who will take over Dansker's responsibilities at JPMorgan, Banc One's Jeff Orr is reportedly in the running for the job.

Steven Margetis recently joined UBS as an associate director in the global structured finance CDO department, reporting to Executive Director James Stehli. Margetis, who joins from ACA where he worked for two years, will be responsible for ABS CDO origination. Prior to his stint at ACA, Margetis had worked at Prudential Securities.

Josh Tanzer was recently hired as a managing director in the Corporate Finance group at Lazard LLC. He is responsible for originating and executing private placements for both equity and debt offerings. Tanzer was most recently at Principia Capital Group, and prior to that supervised the private placement business for the Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group. He will divide his time between Lazard's New York and San Francisco offices.

Shervyn Von Hoerl has started at Hypo Real Estate Bank, a Dublin-based spinoff of HypoVereinsbank. Von Hoerl joins as a director in the securitization and conduit administration group, reporting to group head Tom Glynn, who resigned from HVB's New York securitization group at the start of the year. Von Hoerl moved over from HVB as well, and, prior to that, was with Financial Security Assurance and Moody's Investors Service. Hypo Real Estate Bank has no cross-ownership with HVB. The firm is currently working on two conduit-type structures.

RBS Greenwich Capital has hired adjustable-rate MBS trader Chris Miller as a managing director, reporting to head of ABS/MBS trading Ron Weibye. Miller comes from a similar position in the Bethesda, Md. offices of RFC Securities. The move comes as the ARM sector is making up an increasing percentage of the MBS market (see story, p. 16).

Promontory Asset Finance Co., an independent financial services firm specializing in securitization, received a rating for its extendable multi-seller ABCP facility, named Freedom Park. Moody's Investors Service rated the facility P-1, the highest rating available. JPMorgan Chase is the sub-administrator, paying agent and collateral agent for the program.

Outdoor clothing retailer Cabela's Inc. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public stock offering. The bi-annual credit card ABS issuer has named Credit Suisse First Boston and JPMorgan Securities as joint lead managers of the proposed offering, the price for which has yet to be set. Stephens Inc., Wachovia Securities and William Blair are co-managers on the offering. Cabela's will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed ticker CAB.

KfW plans to organize a meeting between the 13 banks involved in the German true-sale initiative, according to a spokesperson at the government-sponsored bank. The summit is expected to take place at the end of April. The group will bring together the board members of the banks involved in the initiative and will discuss the latest structure worked out as well as elaborate on the related legal issues surrounding the structure. No changes have been incurred so far, and sources believe the group will move ahead with the structure at some point this year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow will be the keynote speaker at The Bond Market Association's annual meeting, held in New York on April 22. Also scheduled to speak are John A. Thain, chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange; Ben S. Bernanke, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board; and Herbert H. McDade III, managing director at Lehman Brothers and 2004 BMA chairman.

Fimat USA, a unit of Societe Generale, announced that it has joined The Mortgage Backed Securities Clearing Corp., a division of the Fixed Income Clearing Corp. The membership will allow Fimat USA, Inc. to submit mortgage-backed securities transactions to the MBSCC for netting and trade for trade clearing. The ABS and MBS group is headed by Patrick Downes, who was hired last year. "We have been a very active player on the futures side of mortgages for many years, advising our clients on hedging, using futures and options, against prepayment and extension risk," Cynthia Zeltwanger, president and CEO, Fimat USA said. "It is a natural step for us to expand our portfolio of brokerage products to include the cash side as well."

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