Dresdner Kleinwort has created a business group that combines debt capital markets with its structured finance and tax structuring units. Dubbed global finance, it is headed by Garrett Curran, former global head of sales across asset classes.
Global finance will include businesses ranging from asset-backed securities to liability management for insurance and pension funds. It sits within the firm's global banking group. Louise Beeson, spokeswoman, said, "We think it is an innovative group that helps differentiate ourselves from our peers."
One credit marketing head at a rival firm said the move makes sense because the advent of derivatives on ABS and loans, for example, has drawn derivatives houses' debt groups closer together. It is also an interesting decision because it bucks the trend for combining debt and equity divisions, which reportedly led to senior departures at JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch, among others.
As part of the reorganization, the firm is returning the management of structured finance to London from New York. Neil Winward, global head of structured finance in New York, will be leaving the firm. He will hand over to Neil Aikin, European head of structured finance, who will now report in to Curran. Winward did not respond to a message by press time and Curran was traveling and could not be reached.
Basing management in Europe could prove an advantage for the firm as it is the center of derivative structuring and is regarded as having a wider pool of talent for firms to draw on than the U.S. There are also advantages in that the management team will be able to coordinate more easily with Asia, which is a larger market for derivative-based investments than the U.S.
