Crédit Agricole Indosuez is bulking up its convertible bond stripping group, with plans to expand in the U.S. and Asia and a recent addition in London. "The business is growing quite fast," said Loic Fery, managing director and global head of credit derivatives and structures in London. Zouhair Bechchar, director and head of convertible asset swap trading in London, said that given the increase in client interest and growing issuance, the bank is looking to set up a New York-based convertible stripping desk by the middle of next year. "We'll be putting a small desk there," said Bechchar, noting that it will look to bring in two staff for the effort, after the integration with Credit Lyonnais. He continued that CAI will hire an additional convertible bond stripper for its Hong Kong operation. Zouhair elaborated that the firm's activity in the convertibles stripping market has doubled in the last several months, with volumes now exceeding USD3 billion per month.
For the London desk, CAI recently hired Jav Bose, convertible asset swap trader at Merrill Lynch in London, for a similar role. "We want to become a global player," said Bose, adding, "We've been strong in Europe and now we want to build up in the U.S. and Asia."
At Merrill, Bose reported to David Page, director in equities in London. Page said that a replacement is intended for Bose, along with an impending restructuring of the group, but declined to elaborate.
