Richard Goldthorpe, global head of securitization at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam, has left for Lloyds TSB-Financial Markets in London and has brought his team of five other professionals with him. Calls to Mark Escott, head of securitization at Lloyds TSB, were referred to Vicky Taylor, spokeswoman, who declined comment. Goldthorpe did not return calls to his office or his cell phone.
Bankers away from Lloyds speculated the hiring of the Fortis team presages an increase in securitization issuance from the bank, which has not been especially active in the market to date. "It looks very similar to what HBOS did when it hired the securitization team from ING Bank--the issuer is then able to do its own structuring and avoids paying fees to the investment banks for anything other than distribution," said one London-based structurer.
At Fortis, Goldthorpe reported to Ralf Bauer, managing director and head of the structured credit group, which is based in Brussels. Bauer noted while the bank has lost the Amsterdam-based securitization team, the 10-strong Brussels-based securitization team remains in tact. Fortis is best known for its Delphinus securitization program in the term market, and also runs an asset-backed commercial paper conduit.
