John Altier
UBS Securities, New York
One West Coast manager describes him "as the best relative value Treasuries salesman" out there. He continues in his praise of Altier, noting that he will tell clients "to trade away on [something] he recommends, because his desk sucks on price or sector." He also points out that Altier has an advantage over his competition given his research background, lending him a forward looking perspective on Treasury and agency fundamentals. This manager is also amused by the fact that "Altier really looks like Baretta, " a fact this manager finds pretty cool, "since I really liked that show."
Malcolm Wain
Banc of America Securities, Charlotte
One trading manager of a large mutual fund company says that Wain's "30-years of experience in covering Treasuries, agencies and money-markets is worth a lot to us because he's seen a lot of market cycles and has clear insight into what's happening." This trader continues, noting "Wain may be an 'old dawg,' but he has every new trick down pat. He is the best at graphing charts and price histories on Bloomberg to support his arguments. He is also honest, available and consistent in his approach to our needs across a variety of portfolios."
One client of Wain's put his assessment of him bluntly: "Malcolm has been a bond salesman since Christ was a Corporal, and therefore can impart tremendous market knowledge on us. We look forward to Malcolm helping us start our day with a consistent morning update of the overnight markets from the standpoint that he has been in the office since 4 a.m. covering his [European] Central Bank clients."
Frank Rice
Deutsche Bank, New York
Buy-sider reasons Rice's strengths come from his ability to converse across every Treasury-related asset class. He continues that "Frank is very accommodative of our needs in all fixed-income sectors." Moreover, "Frank is as good as any I've dealt with in trading across all asset classes, so in that sense, I almost consider him a generalist." The buy-sider also remarked upon "Frank's ability to understand the totality of our relationship with Deutsche Bank and use it to exploit its strengths--and avoid its weaknesses--on desks throughout his trading floor is big help."
One investor says "You can sum up Frank's salesmanship style in one simple phrase: 'I'll take care of it.'" A buy-side trader adds, "Frank has the ability to accommodate his customers with respect to special requests, whether they be related to settlements, research or market color. The recent proliferation of electronic trades via TradeWeb has changed the nature of the business--There have been numerous occasions where he helps instantly fix electronic trade snafus and settlement issues with a friendly 'Consider it done'."
