Deutsche Bank has hired Mehul Shah, a collateralized mortgage obligation trader, from Credit Suisse First Boston, according to a former colleague. Shah had left the firm and was unavailable to comment. Shah's slot is newly created. His job description will be similar to his role at CSFB, namely, trading agency CMOs on the secondary market. He is the firm's fifth hire in the past several months for the agency CMO operations. Nick Letica, the head of the agency CMO effort at Deutsche Bank, and to whom Shah will report, referred a call to the firm's press office. Harriet Benson, a firm spokeswoman, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
At CSFB, Shah reported to fixed-rate CMO co-head's Rasekh Huq and Brad Harris, who left the firm earlier this month (www.bondweek.com, 5/13). Matt Ruppell, the firm's MBS chief, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Shah is viewed by former colleagues and competitors as a junior-level trader. A competitor of CSFB's expressed confidence that the recent departures will have little effect long-term on its agency CMO business: "Rasekh knows the accounts, knows how to structure and those are the important things in printing profitable deals. Everything else can be handled with their big bench."