CAI & CL chiefs share top posts

Crédit Agricole Indosuez (CAI) and Crédit Lyonnais (CL) executives will share the management of foreign exchange after the two banks’ merger on April 30, reports Risknews ' sister publication FX Week .

Paris-based Guy Laffineur takes the top role in forex, keeping his current position as CL’s global head of rates, foreign exchange and commodities. His deputies will be CAI’s Andrew Kellner in London and Francois Goberville in Paris, who manage global forex and commodities and global vanilla rates and liquid bonds products, respectively.

Derek Sammann, global head of foreign exchange options at CAI, will remain in charge of global options at the new bank, which will be called Calyon. He will work in London alongside CAI’s head of spot forex Jon Simmonds, who will also retain his existing responsibilities. Both will report to Kellner.

A key impact of the merger on foreign exchange will be the addition of commodities from CL’s business, currently managed by Andrew Gooch in the UK. CAI had already realigned its business in 2002 to incorporate rates onto the same platform as its foreign exchange business, but it had no existing commodities capability, said Sammann. Adding commodities to the product line will be particularly beneficial for the bank’s options and structuring business. "This means we can cross-sell products to cover multiple types of risk in one product, so it’s much easier to fully leverage each strength," said Sammann.

Few forex casualties -- if any -- are expected from the merger, since the businesses are largely complementary. "We have many experiences and opportunities that we didn’t have individually. It is not like looking in the mirror when we look at Credit Lyonnais’ business," said Simmonds.