ABN AMRO is creating a new U.S. asset securitization group and has nabbed Jim Moore, who was a v.p. of non financial institutions at J.P. Morgan Securities, to run the group out of New York. Moore, who started last week, will oversee term asset-backed securities, asset-backed commercial paper and mortgage-backed securities. He reports to John Mullen, global head of structured credit markets in London, who declined to comment on the move. Patrick Phalon, a spokesman at ABN AMRO, also declined to comment and Moore could not be reached for comment.
Moore and Mullen have worked together before. Prior to working in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, Moore was an asset securitization banker reporting to Mullen who headed structured finance at J.P. Morgan until 1996. In his last position at J.P. Morgan, Moore reported to Tim Main, global head of investment banking, who could not be reached for comment.
This new group is the last piece of the puzzle of ABN AMRO's strategy to create a presence in the U.S. securitization market initiated a year ago (BW, 3/3/02). One big move in that direction was the hiring last August of Fernando Guerrero from TD Securities, to head the global collateralized debt obligation business out of New York. So far on the ABS or MBS fronts, efforts have been limited to the disparate hires of MBS traders (BW, 8/19). The only strong U.S.-based ABS presence was confined to the short-term market with an ABCP platform run out of Chicago by Dennis O'Malley, managing director. He will now report to Moore.
ABN AMRO is also looking to take advantage of the hordes of out of work people to staff up the effort. "People did not get paid well or they are getting laid-off. It gives us a lot of opportunities without having to overpay. We are not trying to be a stupid European bank," he says. He adds that the plan is to hire several bankers, structurers, analysts, sales people and traders in order to "vertically integrate the entire securitization business" in the U.S. However, he declined to specify a headcount.
With $49 billion of ABCP outstanding last year and 12 conduits, ABN AMRO is already the second largest ABCP administrator in the U.S. after Citibank, according to Moody's Investors Service. The firm official says that terming out the short-term securitization business "only makes sense" especially with the new Fin 46 regulatory changes implemented by Financial Accounting Standards Board, that are likely to penalize ABCP conduits this year (BW, 2/10).