WestLB has hired four credit derivatives professionals from Commerzbank Capital Markets in New York, according to Commerzbank officials. The four--Peter Tchir, Joe Carroll, Vitali Fiks and Ed D'Allesandro--formed the core of Commerzbank's credit derivatives operation in New York. Tchir headed up the structuring effort which included Carroll and Fiks. D'Allesandro was a flow trader.
The four have not yet started at WestLB, where Tchir will join as head of credit structuring and trading, according to market officials. He will report to Tom McCaffrey, regional head of the Americas for financial markets in New York. Calls to McCaffrey were referred to Katrin Rueffer, spokeswoman in New York, who declined comment.
At Commerzbank, the group reported to Mike Staveley, global head of credit trading in London. He referred calls to the press office, where a spokesman in New York, confirmed the departures but declined further comment. The departures come in the midst of a reorganization at Commerzbank, according to a Commerzbank official. The bank has made a handful of hires, whom he declined to name, and is in the process of transferring Kristian Sharp, former co-head of flow trading in London, to New York to fill a new role as head of the firm's credit trading and credit risk operations. Sharp declined comment.
