Bank of America expands global proprietary trading

Bank of America has named Lawrence Barwick as global head of proprietary FX trading, based in London. The appointment is part of a build-up of global prop trading - the latest stage in the bank’s wholesale expansion of foreign exchange, Larry Baum, global head of spot, forward and proprietary trading, told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week .

Baum said Barwick, who previously managed a model trading business at BoA in London, was an obvious choice for the post, which has been empty since Mark Brown left Bank of America last October.

"He has an acute understanding of risk and how hedge funds look at risk," Baum said. "We will build out our proprietary desk around understanding risk and leveraging that understanding."

Reporting to Baum, Barwick will manage two existing prop dealers in London, but more hires are expected to follow. "We expect to have about 10 dealers globally by January or February 2003," Baum said. He added that these dealers are likely to be located in the bank’s three main centres - London, New York and Singapore - but, depending on the hires made, it is also possible that all the dealers will be London-based. The team will focus on interest rates, currencies, technical trading, options, options volatilities and volatility trading.

The prop build-up follows hires in both spot and forward FX, including 14 new hires announced last month.