The Royal Bank of Scotland has lost its six-banker team that covered the Latin American bond and loans market. The group, led by Pablo Venturino, who headed the Latin America debt desk, has opted for voluntary redundancy. The redundancies were triggered when staff were forced to relocate to the Stamford office. A clause in the New York staff contracts guarantees a decent package if staff were forced to move more than 35 miles. According to reports, the option to resign includes a rapid vesting of deferred compensation.
Those leaving with Venturino include Carlos Vargas, managing director in charge of debt capital markets; David Pinto, a director; Orlando Alvarado, another director; Boris Espinoza, director of loans; and Patricio Neuss, an associate on the loans desk.
RBS inherited the team after its acquisition of ABN Amro. It was particularly strong in bringing Venezuelan borrowers to the market and, together with Deutsche Bank, provided $1 billion to Ashmore in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Enron’s emerging markets assets in 2006, one of the more innovative Latin American deals in recent years.
It remains to be seen whether RBS will hire replacements. The bank is trying to prove it is not abandoning Latin America entirely.