Jeff Schumacher joined The Royal Bank of Scotland last week as a v.p. in its loan syndications group. Schumacher is coming from The Royal Bank of Canada, where he was a director in RBC's leveraged capital group managing middle-market syndication efforts. Schumacher affirmed that the new position was on the same level as his previous position at RBC, despite the title switch from director to v.p. Before RBC, Schumacher was at Heller Financial, where he also worked in the leveraged loan department.
Calls to RBC officials were not returned by press time, but bankers familiar with Schumacher's jump to RBS said that RBC is still evaluating its next steps in terms of replacing him or divvying Schumacher's previous responsibilities in its leveraged capital group.
RBS has been trying to beef up its leveraged loan business since early last year, said an official close to the situation. He said that Schumacher's addition to the RBS team is a part of a steady effort to acquire more bankers for the group. "Things are going extremely well so far," Schumacher noted of his first week at RBS. He added that deal momentum is picking up. Since the inception of RBS' leveraged finance group in 2002, the bank has led 13 deals, including MW Manufacturers and PlayPower (see story, page 3). Schumacher will report to Robert Ditton, RBS senior v.p. and head of North American syndications.