Salomon Smith Barney has established a global rates and currencies group, which combines several interest rate and foreign exchange groups. The new group sits within the firm's global fixed income division and the reorganization became effective Jan. 1., according to an internal memo sent by Tom Maheras, head of global fixed income, on Dec. 18.
The group puts the sovereign, agency and supranationals trading; credit, hybrid and municipal derivatives desk and foreign exchange and derivatives marketing desks into one team. The reorganization has been made to aid communication and cooperation between its debt and currency markets operations, according to Maheras' memo.
Geoffrey Coley, co-head of global credit markets, and Richard Moore, head of foreign exchange, have been named co-heads of the new group in New York. Randy Barker, co-head of the global credit markets division with Coley, will now take on sole responsibility for that business, with fixed income capital markets reporting jointly to Barker and Coley.
Meanwhile Jim Forese, who had headed up the firm's global interest rates and derivatives product group in New York, has been promoted to be global head of emerging market local finance at Citigroup International, reporting to Deryck Maughan, vice chairman of Citigroup. Citigroup International is a separate division within Citigroup, which works across all products areas on a global basis. Forese will work with Coley and Moore until mid-January in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Salomon Smith Barney is one of the first firms to reorganize its desk along these lines, but other firms will follow its lead, according to Joe Mahfouz, founder of New York-based recruitment firm JHM Associates.
