Trip Mestanas, a more than 20-year veteran of the mortgage-backed securities markets, has left Deutsche Bank to join Merrill Lynch. At Deutsche Bank, Mestanas was a managing director and head of pass-through trading. A trader on the desk confirmed his departure. Mestanas could not be reached and his exact responsibilities within Merrill's mortgage-backed trading group could not be determined. Michele Agostinho, spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, and Michael DuVally, spokesman for Merrill, could not immediately provide more information.
The hires comes as part of Merrill's continuing effort to expand its MBS trading operations, according to people familiar with the developments.
