Goldman Sachs has created a standalone derivatives marketing group, called the European corporates team, to market interest-rate, foreign exchange and credit derivatives as well as general financing instruments, such as bonds and loans, to corporates. The firm formed this group to provide corporates with a single point of contact, according to Rebecca Nelson, a spokeswoman in London. Although it is only implementing this strategy in Europe, if it is successful the firm would consider replicating it in the U.S. and Asia, a Goldman official said.
The official explained that while specific marketing groups for financial institutions, funds and sovereigns/supranationals already exist, corporates have until now been covered by separate product groups. The departure a few months ago of Rod Prat, managing director in derivatives structuring and marketing, who focused primarily on corporates, gave the firm an opportunity to reassess its corporate marketing strategy, the official added.
Other firms, including Deutsche Bank (DW, 8/27) and UBS Warburg (DW, 1/28) have set up similar cross-rates desks. The UBS effort is focused on asset managers.
The new group is headed by Zar Amrolia and Chris Grigg, managing directors, according to Nelson. Amrolia previously was co-head of European fx sales and e-commerce with Geoff Grant. Grant has become global head of fx sales and trading for all fx products. Grigg will continue in his role as head of European debt capital markets. Jason Tilroe and Bim Hundal, both managing directors, are now responsible for liability management and cash financing, respectively, within the new group. Hundal previously was head of the corporate marketing team within debt capital markets. Tilroe recently transferred from New York where he was co-head of liability management and specialized in marketing interest-rate swaps, according
to the official.
A recruiter said it makes sense for the firm to set up a standalone corporate marketing group since a house, such as Goldman, without a large lending capability needs to work harder to capture end user business. Most firms win derivatives business by lending to corporates, and without an extensive capability to do that it is necessary to have a more structured approach and provide good structured ideas or investment banking services. The Goldman official said the firm does have some lending capabilities, but agreed that it is essential to focus on corporates to compete with banks with large balance sheets.
