J.P. Morgan in London has appointed Ryan O'Grady, v.p., as head of syndication for the financial institutions group. It is an internal move to fill the gap created when Brad Craighead left for Countrywide Financial last month. While Craighead was head of asset-backed syndication and trading, O'Grady will be in charge of both secured and unsecured business for the FIG group. He is joined by internal hires Richard Howard, v.p., and Lily Horvil, v.p., who focus on unsecured senior and subordinated debt.
O'Grady was previously on the corporate syndicate desk, focusing on FIG clients. He has been with J.P. Morgan since 2000 and continues to report to Michael Ridley, head of fixed income syndicate. Calls to O'Grady and Ridley were referred to Sebastian Howell, spokesman, who confirmed the appointments.
Craighead left J.P. Morgan early last month after 20 years in the securitization business. He joined Countrywide to set up a new U.K. subsidiary to distribute the firm's U.S. asset-backed securitizations to European investors.