ABN Amro shakes up forex division

ABN Amro’s current global head of foreign exchange options, Douglas Bongartz-Renaud, will transfer to a new role in the bank’s wholesale banking business as part of a reorganisation set to take place over the coming months, a source close to the bank told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week .

ABN Amro has hired a former senior trader from forex market leader Citigroup to replace Bongartz-Renaud as the new global head of its forex options business. Ian Robertson, who will take up the role at ABN Amro’s head office in Amsterdam before the end of this month, was previously Citigroup’s head trader in exotic options in London.

Robertson left Citigroup in May, according to an employee at the bank in London, and the options desk has since been realigned, so an exotics head is no longer needed. However, William McGhee, a former FX options specialist at Deutsche Bank, will now take over many of his former responsibilities.

Bongartz-Renaud, a well-known industry figure and the architect of the bank’s expanding FX options business, will be "transferred to another role within the financial markets group", said a spokesperson for the bank. He declined to give the details of this role.

However, a source close to the bank said Bongartz-Renaud had been asked to be a senior manager in a new division that is being formed within the bank’s wholesale banking business. This move is connected to a number of other changes and new appointments due to take effect at the bank over the next two months, he added. In his new role, Bongartz-Renaud is expected to continue in the derivatives market. The details of these changes have yet to be finalised, the source added.