Credit Suisse First Boston has switched Andy Kimura, a longtime managing director, from the mortgage-backed security financing desk back to agency collateralized mortgage obligations, the sector where he originally made his mark. Kimura was unavailable for comment; department head Matt Ruppell did not return a call seeking comment. The firm has also added Mike Daniels, a buy-side trader and portfolio manager from Fidelity Investments, to trade CMOs in the secondary market. Daniels was slated to start today. Last week he had left Fidelity and was unavailable to comment.
Kimura's switch was viewed with enthusiasm by a CSFB mortgage insider, who called him a "great structurer." A former CSFB CMO pro says that Daniels' hire "is a refreshing move by [CSFB] to go to a talented buy-sider, rather than ransack the same cast of Street characters." Another former CSFB pro, while professing respect for Daniels' work at Fidelity says that "hiring someone out of that specific shop is always a risk, since they are one of the few accounts that can't be alienated."