Bank of America is aggressively hiring for its London-based European fixed-income sales and trading efforts. Peter Plaut, head of European credit research, says the firm is looking to build its investment-grade and high-yield desks, but did not give a specific number of hires to be made. The firm has had a presence in the U.K. for two years and is looking to expand its headcount in response to business growth, he adds. Industry officials say B of A is also looking to ramp up its asset-backed securitization team. Calls to Arrington Mixon, head of European fixed income, and Steve Gandy, head of European ABS, were not returned.
The most recent hire is John Brewer, who joined from Goldman Sachs to head European investment-grade credit trading, says a B of A spokeswoman. He held a similar role at Goldman. B of A has also added Michael Khouri, formerly a debt capital markets banker at Lehman Brothers in London to its high-yield sales team, says the spokeswoman. Calls to Goldman and Lehman seeking details of Brewer and Khouri's replacements were not returned.