BNP Paribas snares six from Freddie Mac for US mortgage business

French investment bank BNP Paribas has hired six former Freddie Mac professionals, as part of an initiative to build its US mortgage business.

Kevin Heal, an institutional sales manager from Freddie Mac, joins as managing director and head of sales. He will be based at the bank’s new office in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Heal was previously managing director in e-commerce mortgage sales at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York. He will report to Vasan Varanthan, BNP Paribas' head of interest rates group sales for the Americas.

Heal will lead a team that will include four of the new recruits, including George Livingston, Eric Salzman, Bill Ludmer and Bill Poulos. All four occupied sales positions at FHLMC, and will be based in Virginia. Livingston, Salzman and Ludmer have been appointed directors in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) sales, while Poulos joins as director and MBS originator.

Meanwhile, Tim Coyne joins as director and MBS trader. He will be based in New York and report to Zbigniew Ryzak, head of the interest rates group for North America. Coyne was a senior MBS trader at Freddie Mac.

“This initiative will significantly add to the strong rates platform we have in derivatives products, Treasuries, Tips and agencies,” said David Brunner, chief executive of BNP Paribas Securities. “Mortgage-backed securities now represent the most important area of ongoing development for our interest rate group activity in the US,” he added.