J.P. Morgan Securities has lost another veteran CDO pro as Mario Verna left to join Deutsche Bank, according to a Deutsche Bank CDO executive. Deutsche Bank, which plans on beefing up its CDO group, according to this executive, has made Verna a director in its global credit products group. Verna's position was created because of the department's expansion, according to a Deutsche Bank source, and he is reporting to Marc Pfeffer, chief operating officer of the global credit products division, and will be based in New York, structuring CDOs. He has been in the structured products business seven years, including a stint at Fitch as a structured products analyst. At newly merged J.P. Morgan Chase, where he was v.p. with the CDO group, Verna reported to Romita Shetty, the head of the CDO group. Verna would not comment on his motivation for leaving, nor would he disclose his new compensation package. As of press time, Shetty was traveling in Europe and did not return a phone call seeking comment. Former CDO group executives at J.P. Morgan Securities point to a string of recent defections to rivals, including Verna, John Clements (BW, 4/9) and several unspecified others, as proof of the difficulty in merging the two high-profile CDO operations.
Another CDO Pro Jumps Ship From J.P. Morgan To Join Rival