JP Morgan loses exotics head

JP Morgan Chase’s head of European trading for exotics and hybrids, Chris French, will retire from the firm in early March.

Bobby Magee, who had taken a six-month break on parental leave from his role as head of market risk, will replace French with immediate effect. Magee declined to comment on his promotion.

French built his career trading exotics across different asset classes, including interest rates, long-dated foreign exchange and credit. He became head of equity exotics in 2002, and went on to create a single exotics and hybrids unit in 2003 that incorporated credit and interest rates.

A JP Morgan internal memo praised French's work at the bank. “Our leadership in the exotics and hybrids business owes a great deal to him,” it said. A derivatives recruitment specialist in London described French's departure as "a big loss" to the US bank.

Magee is a veteran of JP Morgan before its takeover by Chase Manhattan, where he was head of derivatives research and exotic interest rate trading. He subsequently established a strong reputation for being an effective risk manager – for example, reducing the investment bank’s exposure to the power-reverse dual market at the expense of interbank market share.

Jonathan Slater, head of JP Morgan's global credit hybrid risk book, said he was “very happy” about Magee's appointment.

Magee will report to Fawzi Kyriakos-Saad, head of credit sales and trading, and John Corrie, head of equities. In the memo they stated the exotics and hybrids business would continue to be managed as a single business unit covering all major asset classes.