U.S.-based monoline insurer XL Capital Assurance is seeking regulatory approval to structure collateralized debt obligations in London. XL has hired Sohail Rasul, collateralized debt obligation structurer at J.P. Morgan in London, as managing director in the structured finance group. He will help with the application to the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority, according to a company spokesman. Rasul starts today and reports to David Czerniecki, senior managing director and head of structured finance in New York. Czerniecki referred calls to the spokesman. Rasul was on gardening leave and could not be contacted.
XL expects to complete staffing up the London operation early next year and will then start to structure both cash and synthetic CDOs. Press officers at the FSA declined comment. Calls to J.P. Morgan were not returned.
