SG, the corporate and investment banking arm of Société Générale, is looking to bulk up its asset-backed banking team in London. Richard Hopkin, the newly hired deputy head of the securitization team, says a few new hires will be necessary to handle the firm's heavy deal pipeline, declining to say how many it has lined up. There are 10 people currently in the London ABS group. Prior to joining SG, Hopkin was a managing director at Deutsche Bank in London, where he was responsible for commercial paper conduits, asset-backed commercial paper conduits and developing the firm's consumer term ABS business. Hopkin, who joined earlier in January and is responsible for Northern European and U.K. business, reports to Jean-François Despoux, Paris-based head of securitization.