Royal Bank of Scotland in London is beefing up its European high-yield team and has hired Brent Eastburg in the new role of head of high-yield trading for Europe and Asia. Eastburg joins from Calyon in London, where he headed up proprietary trading for the bank's European portfolio. He reports to Stewart Booth, global co-head of credit trading.
Eastburg said RBS is building out its high-yield business in Europe and Asia to take advantage of the bank's strong presence in the leveraged loan markets in these regions. The firm's initial goal is to make it into the top ten in the high-yield league tables. RBS already has a dedicated four-person high-yield sales team in place, along with a four-strong high-yield research team, and Eastburg plans more hires on the trading side.
Meanwhile, the proprietary trading team at Calyon has been disbanded, with Eastburg's former colleagues either moving to hedge funds or retiring, they said. Eastburg declined to provide further detail.
