Frank Iacono, v.p., structured credit products at J.P. Morgan, has taken the new position of senior v.p., head of synthetic CDO trading at Lehman Brothers in New York. In his new position, Iacono will be the senior member of an existing structured credit trading group that structures and trades synthetic CDOs in North America. He will also have some marketing responsibilities. Jim Ballentine, managing director and co-head of U.S. credit trading for Lehman, said demand for structured credit product has grown over the last year, prompting his firm to add a senior trader. A large number of credit defaults in the past year has made investors look more closely at credit derivatives and structured finance as a tool for risk management.
Iacono worked at Chase Manhattan for three years prior to its merger with J.P. Morgan. He declined to name specific factors that led to his decision to join Lehman.
Iacono's former supervisor at J.P. Morgan, Scott Davidson, managing director, structured credit trading, did not return calls for comment.
