FTN Financial released collateralized mortgage obligation structuring veteran Charles Smart just seven months after being brought on to add to its nascent New York mortgage effort (BW, 2/3). Smart was not able to be reached. He had overseen the issuance of four seperate $250 million deals, transactions that had been highly profitable for the growing regional dealer, according to several FTN Financial insiders. Deke Iglehart, the Memphis-based head of fixed-income sales and trading, declined to comment, citing corporate policy. John Hanlon, the head of the CMO effort, was vacationing in Italy and was due back today.
The move caught Street CMO dealers off-guard. "I don't know why they did this: the guy put them in the tables, they made money and the clients know him. They were small transactions, so they can't argue that they were having all the capital tied up," said one CMO trader who had worked with Smart. Prior to joining FTN Financial, Smart had co-headed the MBS desk at Nomura Securities International until 2000, and most recently, had run analytics at Visible Markets.