TD Securities has let go at least four professionals on its structured credit desk in New York, in what one official is calling a further pullback from the U.S. fixed-income market. The four are Phil Chiaramonte and Hal Holappa, both managing directors in structuring; Mike Mancini, v.p./director, in sales; and Tom Mykityshyn, managing director in sales. They were all let go last Monday. Chiaramonte, who had run the structuring side, declined comment. The others could not be reached.
The moves come as TD has gradually scaled back its efforts in high-yield and leveraged finance in the last two years or so, having whittled down its junk bond trading and lending in reaction to losses in 2002, said one official. TD will now further scale back its high-yield credit derivatives business, according to an internal memo announcing the changes from Sinan Akdeniz, vice chair, credit products group.
Still, the personnel changes come as a surprise because they occurred shortly after the team had submitted a business plan that detailed its intention to do more structuring business on investment-grade and asset-backed credits, according to an official familiar with the events. "That's what made this surprising, they basically did a 360 [degree turn]," said the official.
Calls to TD were referred to Brendan O'Halloran, regional head in New York, who declined to comment. Jeff Keay, spokesman in Toronto, confirmed the changes.