Salomon Smith Barney has hired Dan Breen, a private tax consultant, as a managing director in its equity derivatives division in New York. Breen, who has 20-years of equity derivatives experience, has been working as a consultant since leaving Bankers Trust when it was bought by Deutsche Bank in 1999. He will report to Len Ellis, head of structured equity product sales in New York. Ellis said Breen will focus on structuring tax efficient equity derivatives products, but declined further comment. Breen could not be reached for comment.
He will cover corporates, high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. However, a firm official predicted that most of the business will come from high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors as the Enron scandal and various tax changes, such as the Financial Accounting Standard 133, has caused demand from corporates to fall.
Breen's appointment is an expansion to the department and part of the firm's plan to increase its focus on structured equity products since Andy Constan, global head of equity derivatives in New York, took over last year. Constan declined comment.
