CIBC Wood Gundy Bolsters Capital Markets Group

CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Corp. is beefing up its capital markets desk.

Managing director Walter F. McClallen, 31, has been appointed head of the capital markets team. Mr. McClallen had previously been a managing director in the corporate finance department of the high-yield group.

Brian S. Perman, 29, a director in corporate finance at CIBC Wood Gundy, will also move over to capital markets.

The five-member team will report to Jay Bloom, Andrew Heyer, and Dean Kehler, co-heads of high-yield at CIBC Wood Gundy, the U.S. investment banking and trading subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

The New York-based capital markets group functions as a liaison between high-yield corporate finance and the sales, trading, and research departments.

It filters, structures, and organizes information between the two sectors, Mr. Heyer said.

"This is important to provide market, product, and pricing information," Mr. Bloom added.

Mr. McClallen was an original member of the Argosy Group, the high-yield investment boutique that CIBC Wood Gundy bought in 1995. Mr. Perman has been with CIBC Wood Gundy for three years.

Executive recruiter Lee Pomeroy of Egon Zhender International said that, in recent years, the capital markets function has continued to be important at commercial banks.

"Increasingly, banks are creating interface roles to give the market a closer feel to the client," Mr. Pomeroy said.