Newly promoted Polverino quits JP Morgan for Merrill Lynch

Antonio Polverino, whom JP Morgan appointed as head of corporate derivatives marketing in March, has jumped ship to take a similar position at Merrill Lynch.

Polverino’s departure is the latest in a series of senior resignations from JP Morgan since the beginning of the year. JP Morgan has posted weaker-than-expected trading performance figures for 2004 and has rationalised its business to offer clients integrated credit, rate and equity services.

Several of Polverino’s former colleagues at JP Morgan are expected to follow him to Merrill Lynch, one source told RiskNews. JP Morgan declined to comment on the moves.

Merrill's hiring of Polverino is part of a recent endeavour to bolster its distribution network by going on a managing director hiring spree. In March, for example, Alvise Munari quit Goldman Sachs to head Merrill Lynch’s equity-linked product marketing business, while Diego Parilla and two colleagues also left Goldman Sachs to set up the commodity solutions group at Merrill Lynch in London.