Bankers were surprised at the seniority of Koranteng's new role because few rating agency staffers have joined derivatives shops at the managing director level and even fewer have joined in global head positions. Two of the most senior former rating agency staffers are Mitchell Lench, who joined Bank of America from Fitch Ratings as a managing director in its structured credit products group in London, and Eileen Murphy, who took a senior role at Chase Manhattan from Moody's Investors Service, then left to become global head of CDOs for Barclays Capital. Murphy has since left Barclays.
Former colleagues and contemporaries of Koranteng predicted that he would find the switch to a bank relatively easy because he is a good manager and has gravitas. In addition, quips one official, Koranteng is an enthusiastic body builder and as a result few of his new colleagues are likely to argue with him. But, several officials pointed to large differences in the cultures of the organizations. One banker summed up the difference between rating agencies and banks as, "There is no premium on [baloney] in a rating agency." He explained that in a rating agency the various staffers are only interested in finding the correct way of analyzing a deal, whereas banks are more political.
Koranteng will report to Gavin Alexander, global head of structured capital in London, according to Alex Evans, spokesman in London.
