ABN AMRO is reassigning a handful of senior fixed-income professionals and plans to set up a North American proprietary trading desk as part of the changes. Pat Fay, the head of North American financial markets for fixed income, will run the new prop effort and will hire a team of traders, according to Kimberly Williams, a spokeswoman. ABN already has a London-based fixed-income prop desk run by Nils Lorenzen and it wants to set up a North American version as firms across the Street report earnings showing they are generating fat profits from putting their own cash to work, according to an official at the firm. Williams was unable to quantify how large the book will be before press time.
Fay will be replaced by Kim Rosenkilde, who was briefly ABN's country representative in Japan and previously was global head of government bond trading in London. He will relocate from Tokyo to New York as part of the realignment, which is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
"They think there is money to be made now, as rates are headed higher, and they need people who can trade in that period of volatility," says one outside observer.
It is unclear whether the move is a bump up, down or sideways for Fay. Williams says the role is appealing because Fay, who earned a track record in government bond trading, will be building a team from the ground up and will be in the trenches. At the same time, she says it is a role that would have been under his current position as head of financial markets, had it existed. Fay declined to comment.
Another Aussie In London
Other moves are planned, too. John McCarthy, head of credit markets for the Americas and an Australian native, says he will relocate to London this summer to take a new role as global head of infrastructure capital, which will encompass the firm's principal finance activities. Jim Stewart, currently the head of the financial institutions group in New York, is taking over McCarthy's role.
Also switching seats is Fernando Guerrero, who is losing his title as global head of collateralized debt obligations. One insider says that, as a European bank, firm officials believe the global head of CDOs should be located in London. For now, the position is being folded into the European securitization group under head Selwyn Rayzor. Williams, the spokeswoman, says Guerrero will be reassigned to another post within the firm in New York. He declined to comment pending an official firm announcement.
