Securitization People and Markets

American Capital Access has hired Keith Gorman from Fitch Ratings as a residential mortgage-backed securities analyst. ACA, a New York-based insurance company, is an active collateral manager for cash flow and synthetic collateralized debt obligations with a niche expertise in managing structured finance bonds. Gorman will start next Monday. He will report to Laura Schwartz, managing director and senior credit officer for asset-backed securities. Cathy Bailey, a spokeswoman at ACA, says the position is newly created due to the growth of the structured finance business (BW, 3/3). Gorman says he is leaving the rating agency because he was interested in a career move to the buy-side.

ING Investment Management has more than E250 billion in assets under management of which about E12 billion is in asset-backed securities. Based in The Hague, The Netherlands, the E1 billion Global ABS Fund is co-managed by Erik Jan van Bergen, and Bas Kragten. Kragten joined ING six months ago from NIB Capital Asset Management where he was responsible for a E2 billion ABS portfolio. Van Bergen has been with ING for 12 years.

Glen Blasius has left Bear Stearns' where he was one of the firm's three London-based asset-backed securities traders. John Knight, a firm spokesman, declined to comment on the reason for Blasius' departure. Blasius had already left Bear Stearns last week and could not be reached for comment. His next destination, if any, could not be learned. Knight says Blasius' duties have been assumed by the two remaining ABS traders, Sheil Aggawal and Henrik Malmer.

Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. has hired Clifton Lewis as senior transactor for mortgage-backed securities and secondary asset-backed securities. He started last Monday. He reports to Ken Rosenberg, director of new business development. The position is a newly created one, says Greg Raab, head of structured finance, as demand for wraps on structured finance products is growing. Raab adds that he will be looking at adding another transactor soon.

Deutsche Bank has hired Mark Sibley from J.P. Morgan Securities as an addition to its London-based integrated credit-trading desk. He is currently on "gardening leave" and will join the firm next month. Sibley, who will be based in London, will report to Antonio di Flumeri, head of European non-emerging markets credit derivatives trading, a firm spokesman said. At J.P. Morgan, Sibley was a telecom, media and technology dollar/euro flow trader, and will be filling a similar post at Deutsche Bank. A spokesman at J.P. Morgan declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank has hired Nick Letica and Charles Smart to strengthen its agency collateralized mortgage obligation trading desk. Ted Meyer, a Deutsche Bank spokesman, says the move is congruent with the firm's recent push to expand its MBS capabilities (BW, 7/8).

Lars Norell and Harin DeSilva, collateral debt obligation structurers, have joined Merrill Lynch from Credit Suisse First Boston, a Merrill Lynch insider says. They follow their former boss from CSFB, Chris Ricciardi, the newly appointed global head of CDO origination and structuring, who also recently joined Merrill (BW, 3/10).

Merrill Lynch has filled a collateralized mortgage obligation trading slot by bringing CMO analyst Mike McCarthy onto the desk from its research area, according to Ken Haeckel, the firm's U.S. fixed-income strategist. McCarthy confirmed the move but declined further comment. He will report to CMO chief and residential mortgage-backed securities department head Andy Beal. Haeckel says no decision has been made about picking a replacement for McCarthy yet, or who would fill his research duties in the interim.

UBS Warburg has hired Bryan Boews from Credit Suisse First Boston to run its hybrid adjustable rate mortgage securities desk, according to people familiar with the matter. Boews had already left CSFB and was unavailable to comment last week. A CSFB insider says Boews received "a full court press" from CSFB to stay, including pressure from senior MBS and fixed-income department officials. Indeed, one individual familiar with the process says, "Bryan went in to resign mid-morning and was still in talks by 5 [p.m.]." This official says that Boews sought a contract to stay, but that senior CSFB officials were hesitant to offer one, offering oral assurances of compensation level instead. Matt Ruppell, head of MBS at Credit Suisse First Boston, declined to comment.