RBS Greenwich Capital has hired veteran collateralized mortgage obligation trader Matt Weinberg from Lehman Brothers to trade within its fixed-income proprietary trading group. This is a new slot, according to several people familiar with the situation. Weinberg had left Lehman last week and was unavailable to comment. At GCM, he will report to Kurt Lichtman, the head of prop trading, and trade both agency and whole-loan CMOs. Jay Levine, co-CEO of GCM, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Rich McKinney, head of Lehman's whole-loan CMO group, says replacing Weinberg is "something we are definitely looking to do, although I don't know that it will happen by external or internal means."
Weinberg's move did not surprise many on Street CMO desks, given his propensity for moving shops (BW, 6/17). Indeed, he has worked at J.P. Morgan Securities, Prudential Securities, Links Securities, Nomura Securities America and Salomon Brothers since the mid 1990s. "Weinberg is a very, very good trader who leaves immediately if he doesn't see a contract coming his way," says a senior MBS official who worked with him.