CDC Ixis Capital Markets is restructuring its credit group to include exotic credit derivatives, such as first-to-default baskets of credit derivatives, and has spun off flow business into a separate group. Francois Mainard, deputy head of global fixed income in Paris, said the restructuring is designed to capture a bigger piece of the burgeoning European credit derivatives market. CDC opted to split the roles because it wants specialists for each department, he added.
CDC Ixis Capital Markets has hired 20 professionals across the cash and derivatives credit business this year and plans to hire another 20 in the next few months, Mainard explained. The impetus for this is customer demand stemming from a rapidly expanding European credit market. An increasing number of European obligators are issuing bonds instead of borrowing from banks, and the secondary market in loans is becoming more liquid. Mainard concedes that this trend has been in effect for some time, but noted that it takes time to restructure a department and add new products.
As part of the restructuring, CDC last month hired Gary Kirk, v.p., global credit derivatives at RBC Dominion Securities in London, in the new position of director and head of LIBOR-based credit trading, responsible for flow business from London. Kirk said he expects to start trading investment grade credits this week. He is looking to build the six-strong flow team to 10 when the right traders and marketers become available.
