Bankers Trust New York Corp. is transferring the head of its global derivatives activities to New York from London, underscoring the growing importance of this business.
The move involves Brian Walsh, the head of global capital markets, who has run the derivatives business out of London since 1990.
The transfer places Mr. Walsh closer to senior management, enhancing his stature as a rising star in the bank.
In recent years, major banks have generated an increasingly significant portion of fee income from such derivative products as interest rate and currency swaps. At the same time, these risky activities have come under increasing scrutiny from federal bank regulators.
Mr. Walsh's transfer coincides with a push by Bankers Trust to integrate the marketing of derivatives and corporate finance products.
"There needs to be more overlap between risk management and corporate finance products," said Raphael Soifer & Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Bringing Mr. Walsh to New York should help address that issue, he added.
Kiley Goes to London
As part of the effort, Charles Kiley, head of loan sales and distribution in New York, is being dispatched to London next month.
Mr. Kiley's formal title will be vice chairman of Bankers Trust International - a sort of umbrella organization for London-based activities. His man job will be to make sure that Bankers Trust's European customers are shown the full range of the bank's products.
The new client-based strategy is a departure from Bankers Trust's previous transaction-oriented way of doing business.
It's unclear, meanwhile, who will become chairman of BT International. That title currently belongs to Mr. Walsh, but he will relinquish it when he moves to New York.
A decision on the new chairman is expected to be announced this summer.
Regardless of who is selected, the heads of the various segments of Bankers Trust's derivative businesses in London will continue to report to Mr. Walsh.
The global capital markets group is run independently of BT International. While Mr. Walsh was running the group out of London, it was apparently a matter of convenience for Bankers Trust to give him the added title of chairman of BT International.
Mr. Kiley's job as head of Loan sales and syndications will be assumed by Morgan St. John, a senior official in Bankers Trust's Los Angeles office.
West Coast Clients
Since the Los Angeles office generates roughly half the deals that flow through the bank's syndication desk, Mr. St. John will continue to be based there.
Mr. St. John was previously relationship manager for one of Bankers Trust's most important clients - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Other major West Coast clients include Leonard Green & Partners, the Los Angeles-based buyout firm.
