Kensington concerns:
Although Fitch said it was not taking immediate rating action on the fact that Kensington Mortgages used its reserve fund to pay coupons on RMS 15 and 16 due to increasing arrears, it is clear that the agency is concerned about these two non-conforming transactions. The news that arrears are rising will concern participants in the non-conforming RMBS especially as this is regarded as the best originator in the sector.
Deutsche gears up in US:
Deutsche Bank is beefing up its US mortgage-backed team, a sector where it lags Wall Street's bulge-bracket firms.
In June Hyung Myung Peak joined from RBS Greenwich Capital as a managing director and head of private label CMO trading. Adam Yarnold, previously at UBS, becomes head of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) trading.
In May, Deutsche appointed Christopher Babu, from Bank of America, a director in mortgage derivative trading. At the same time it made a move to bolster its MBS sales coverage with the appointment of Mark Zarrilli. Reporting to Michael Jordan, Zarilli was a Bank of America veteran, with 12 years under his belt at the bank.
Polverino takes team to Merrill
Merrill Lynch has poached a 23-strong European derivatives team from JPMorgan.
It is the latest of a long line of derivatives and structured finance professionals that have departed JPMorgan on both the product and sales sides of the business during the past six months, but the first mass defection to a rival firm.
JPMorgan's head of derivative marketing for corporates Antonio Polverino, left the firm in June. At Merrill, he will report to Osman Semerci, head of EMEA global markets. Among the bankers joining Polverino are Daniele Bartoccioni, Giovanni Moruzzi and Gloria Vargas as managing directors.