Lau-Hansen named marketing head at Primus

Primus Financial Products, an AAA-rated company offering credit risk protection on investment grade corporates, financials and sovereigns, has hired Candace Lau-Hansen from JP Morgan Chase as its new global head of marketing.

Lau-Hansen's job is to significantly broaden and expand Primus' relationships with credit derivatives dealers and credit portfolio managers around the world.

She previously spent 11 years at JP Morgan Chase, most recently as global head of reinsurance sales and as managing director of structured credit products. There, she was responsible for a global marketing team for the reinsurance team that focused on strategic risk transfer.

Previously, Lau-Hansen held positions at ABN Amro and Bankers Trust in New York. She will report to Primus' chief financial officer Joseph Bauman.

Primus was co-founded by Tom Jasper, who built the interest rate swaps business at Salomon Brothers in the early 1980s. Primus' total capital stood at $243 million at the end of last year. It raised $155 million in March 2002 from four backers: XL Capital, Radian Group, Calpers and Aegon.