Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has hired Farid Bassiri, v.p. local currency swaps and options trader at Credit Suisse First Boston in London, as a trader in the credit derivatives group. Officials familiar with the move said Bassiri jumped ship because Salomon's local currency trading desk combines credit derivatives and foreign exchange instruments, enabling him to use a broader spectrum of products than at CSFB, where the two asset classes are traded separately. The location of firms' credit derivatives departments within the overall trading structure is becoming increasingly important in shaping where credit derivatives professionals want to work (DW, 7/16).
Bassiri will start in September and report to Sumit Roy, head of credit derivatives at Salomon Smith Barney in New York. Roy did not return calls and Bassiri was on gardening leave and could not be contacted.
Another factor that may have influenced the decision, say headhunters, is the recent appointment of John Mack, former president and coo at Morgan Stanley, as chief executive of CSFB. Morgan Stanley has a smaller emerging market presence than CSFB and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, and Mack might be looking to prune the operation at CSFB, headhunters continued.
At CSFB Bassiri reported to Robin Wilson, managing director and head of European local currency trading in London. Wilson referred calls to press officers who declined comment.
