Christine Cromarty, director, agency asset swap marketing at BMO Nesbitt Burns in New York, and Amy Cohen, senior marketer for corporate and emerging market names at creditex in New York, have taken new positions at Banca Commerciale Italiana. Both are directors, with Cromarty marketing and structuring credit derivatives and Cohen trading and marketing. The positions were added in line with a global increase in the BCI structured credit platform, said Paolo Josca, head of credit derivatives in New York.
The synthetic portfolio credit default swap market is growing apace in Europe, said Josca. From the issuer perspective, with the advent of the euro, the banking sector is becoming more competitive in Europe, pushing banks to try to enhance return on equity through more active balance sheet management. The synthetic CDO product allows banks to better manage regulatory capital. The product is now mature enough that investors and issuers are aware of its benefits, he added. Growing in the U.S. allows the group to reach a broader array of investors on deals it is structuring, and better investigate credits on deals it is structuring or considering investing in.
