Williams promoted

Wachovia Securities has announced the promotion of Ben Williams to head of the newly formed debt markets group. Williams will oversee the fixed-income and credit capital divisions and report to Steve Cummings and Barnes Hauptfuhrer, co-heads of Wachovia’s corporate and investment bank.

As the syndicated loan and fixed-income markets continue to converge, says Hauptfuhrer, the move to place both divisions under Williams’ leadership will enable Wachovia to boost its long-term business. “Our goal is to ensure that Wachovia is a growing force in corporate credit markets for many years to come,” he says.

In addition, Curtis Arledge, current deputy head of Wachovia’s fixed-income division, will succeed Williams as head of fixed income. Julie Bouhuys, head of credit capital markets, will continue in her role. Arledge and Bouhuys will report to Williams.

Williams joined Wachovia in 1984 and has been head of the fixed-income division since August 2002. Previous roles at Wachovia include head of the real estate financial services group and head of the real estate capital markets group, which he formed in 1999.

Arledge joined Wachovia in 1996 and has been deputy head of the fixed-income division since August 2002. He was head of fixed-income trading from 2000 to 2002, and head of structured products trading from 1997 to 2000. Williams’ and Arledge’s promotions will be effective January 1, 2004.

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Indie’s h-y venture

Gimme Credit, the independent research firm, has ventured into the high-yield universe with the launch of Gimme Credit High Yield and addition of four high-yield specialists. Gimme Credit is aiming to help institutional investors avoid risk in the high-yield sector and to identify investment opportunities.

“Corporate junk issuance is near a record pace this year, and investors are hungry for guidance about high-yield credits,” says Kimberly Noland, Gimme Credit’s director of high-yield research. “A wrong call in the high-yield market can be very costly right now.”

Reflecting increased investor demand for high-yield securities, issuance has grown sharply, with some $500 billion of high-yield debt issued in the US since 1998. But little independent, analytically grounded research on individual debt issuers is available.

The Gimme Credit high-yield team has more than 60 years’ combined experience in high-yield analysis. Kimberly Noland will cover the utilities, gaming, and consumer products. Shelly Lombard will oversee the automotive and media sectors. Evan Mann will cover the transportation, lodging, and retailing covers. He has worked at Delaware Investments and Banc of America Securities. June Giroux will cover materials, energy, and technology . She has previously worked at Liberty Funds Group, a Columbia Management Group company.

All report to Gimme Credit’s director of research, Carol Levenson.

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BarCap hires three

In a move to bring further growth to its US franchise, Barclays Capital has made three new hires for its corporate risk management and derivatives team in New York.

William Gleason will be responsible for client coverage, including structured products and derivatives tailored to addressing the risk management and corporate financing needs of corporate clients. He joins BarCap from JPMorgan Chase.

Marjorie Marker joins the bank to assist clients and risk advisors in analyzing the accounting implications of financing, derivatives, and capital markets transactions.

Marker was previously a partner at accountancy firm Ernst & Young, where she focused on accounting for derivatives, convertibles, and asset securitizations, and served as an accounting advisor to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and several major commercial and investment banks. She has also spent nine years as a partner at Arthur Andersen, and was head of accounting policy at Citicorp.

Tim Moran will develop and analyze derivatives hedging transactions related to securitizations for both corporate and financial issuers at BarCap. Moran joins from insurer Swiss Re Financial, where he was global head of ‘swaps-in-trust’ marketing. Before that, Moran was head of structured derivatives marketing at German bank WestLB.

All three new recruits will report to Ed Somekh, head of corporate risk management and derivatives in the US. “These hires illustrate our continuing focus on attracting and recruiting some of the best talent as we grow our US franchise,” says Somekh. “William brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with equity, credit, and fixed-income derivatives and structured products to the firm; Tim brings unrivaled expertise in all aspects of ABS-based swaps; and Marjorie is one of the most highly respected accounting practitioners in the world of derivatives and finance.”

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Also on the move...

• The Bank of New York has hired Patrick Tadie as head of mortgage-backed securities in its corporate trust division, the bank’s largest structured finance business. Tadie was previously at Freddie Mac, where he worked on setting guarantee fees, managing bulk portfolio, credit enhancements, and rating agency relationships. At the Bank of New York he will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the mortgage-backed business, including new business generation and client services.

• Timothy Geithner has been appointed president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and is to assume the job in mid-November. He is currently the director of the policy development and review department at the International Monetary Fund. Before joining the IMF in 2001, he worked as undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1998. In addition, John Sexton becomes chairman designate of the board of directors for the bank and Jerry Speyer deputy chairman for 2004.

• Barclays Capital has hired Matthew Basler for its origination team in New York. He will focus on relationship coverage and the development and execution of debt financing and liability management transactions with the bank’s US corporate clients. He reports to Peter Goettler, head of investment banking and debt capital markets for the Americas. Bulent Baygun will also join the firm from Citigroup as head of US fixed-income strategy. He will work in a team led by Larry Kantor, head of economics and market strategy.

• HSBC has hired Boris Loshak from Barclays Capital, where he was an agency strategist. He will be responsible for generating relative value and strategic trading ideas. Loshak previously worked at Goldman Sachs and Prudential. In August the bank hired Rob Matelwich from Barclays Capital as head of supranational, sovereign, and agency trading and sales.

• John C. Carson Jr has replaced G. Douglas Edwards as institutional division president for Morgan Keegan & Co. Carson will be responsible for the firm’s institutional fixed-income sales, trading, research, and investment banking efforts.

• Moody’s Investors Service has added Terry Marshall to its Toronto office. He will assume responsibility for a portfolio of Canadian and US metal, mining, and forest products and becomes the fifth member of the Canadian office. Marshall joins Moody’s after 16 years at Citibank Canada, where he headed up the metal and mining team in the corporate finance group.

• Prudential Investment Management’s fixed-income division has hired Karen Klapper as a vice president in the credit research unit, which supports the leveraged bank loan division. Klapper joins Prudential from BMO Nesbitt Burns. She will be reporting to Richard Greenwood, managing director and head of credit research.

• Merrill Lynch’s Dow Kim, a fixed-income professional with more than 18 years of experience in the debt markets, has been promoted to the role of executive vice-president by the bank's board. Kim joined Merrill Lynch in 1994 and has held a succession of management positions, including head of debt capital markets and head of global debt derivatives sales and trading. In August, Kim assumed the role of president of the company's global markets and investment banking group, a role he will continue to fill.