The following is a list of prominent personnel moves from around the U.S. and European markets. To submit an item for inclusion in this column, please contact Scott Goodwin, managing editor, at 212-224-3276 or sgoodwin@iinews.com.
* Isaac Tabor, head of European emerging market fixed-income research at Merrill Lynch in London, has left the firm.
* Peter Croncota, head of credit derivatives sales at Bear Stearns in New York, is leaving the firm. Croncota narrowed his focus to credit derivatives earlier this year, having previously held both credit and interest-rate derivatives sales responsibilities.
* Neal Leonard joins HSBC as managing director and co-head of mortgage-backed securities in New York. Leonard was previously with Lehman Brothers. He along with Todd White will spearhead HSBC's mortgage-backed securities business and will report to Joseph Petri, senior executive v.p. and head of global markets, Americas.
* Arvind Bajaj, managing director and head of European commercial mortgage-backed securities sales at Morgan Stanley in London, plans to join Credit Suisse First Boston in a similar role.
* Chris Jones, head of euro medium-term notes at Deutsche Bank in London, is moving to HSBC. He will start later this year as managing director and global head of euro MTNs at HSBC, also in London.
* Joseph Chimienti has been named v.p., municipal banking by M.R. Beal & Co in New York and will report to Jairus De Walt, executive v.p. and head of M.R. Beal's investment banking group. Chimienti was previously in the investment banking group of RBC Dain Rauscher.
* Richard Syron, chairman and ceo of Freddie Mac, has been elected the chairman of the Freddie Mac Foundation. Michelle Engler, trustee, Investor Series Trust and Dwight Robinson, Freddie Mac board member, have been appointed as directors to the foundation's board.
* Tong Lee, global head of trading at Gen Re Financial Products, will join Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London in the newly created position of global head of credit hybrid trading. He will report to Matteo Mazzocchi, global head of credit derivatives and securitization, and starts in mid-June.