Barclays poaches head of German fixed-income sales from CSFB

Omar Selim, formerly head of German fixed-income sales for Credit Suisse First Boston, is to join Barclays Capital.

The hire is something of a coup for Barclays. Selim is respected in the German debt markets for his strongclient relationships, and has played a role in pioneering new areas for his customers such as structured credit investment and distressed debt securitisation. A previous employer, Morgan Stanley, was said to have been upset by Selim's move to CSFB, and now CSFB will be challenged to plug the hole in its ranks, which follows the departure of its head of European derivatives sales Guglielmo Sartori di Borgoricco to Barclays in March.

For Barclays, long criticised as being too focused on trading, the hire of Selim and di Borgoricco demonstrates how serious the bank has become about establishing a broad derivatives sales and marketing franchise in Europe. After a period of gardening leave, Selim's new position will be managing director and head of debt capital markets distribution for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He will report to di Borgoricco, who is now head of European distribution for Barclays.