AIG Trading Group has scaled down its foreign exchange market making to focus on structured deals. The move comes less than a year after it attempted to beef up its foreign exchange and commodities trading operations and follows the merger of AIG Trading and AIG Financial Products in the summer (DW, 6/2).
Don Lee, senior v.p., global head of foreign exchange options and head of foreign exchange in Greenwich, Conn., declined comment. Beth Cutler, spokeswoman at AIG-TG in Greenwich, Conn., did not return calls.
Prior to the merger AIG-TG was in full growth mode, aiming to build itself into a major player in foreign exchange, said several officials. The decision to merge the two entities, however, changed this aggressive stance to one focusing more on lower risk structured deals, more typical of AIG-FP, they added.
Following the change in focus there has been a slew of departures from AIG-TG, which many officials predict is not yet over. Carl Nabar, who joined in April to build the firm's exotic option capabilities (DW, 4/20), left last week, according to officials. John Bradley, v.p. in fx structuring, recently joined HSBC as head of corporate and institutional fx derivatives structuring for the Americas in New York (DW, 10/21). Other departures since the merger include Peter Kend and Gary Taratunio, fx sales pros, who have joined JPMorgan in similar roles. Nabar, Kend and Taratunio declined comment.
