Cleveland's National City Corp. is stepping up its capital markets activities. It was only a year ago that the bank formed its capital markets group by combining separate units that had been spread across different parts of the company.
Now it has it hired Richard Payne, 53, as executive vice president to increase business in such areas as senior debt syndications, corporate finance, derivative products and asset securitizations.
"We are the 10th largest bank in the country and have a market capitalization of $19 billion, which is a very good start from which to grow our capital markets business," says Payne, who had been managing director in the corporate finance group at First Union Securities in Charlotte, NC. There's a lot of potential in the area, he says, adding, "my coming was a matter of one additional hiring to take it to another level."
Loan securitizations are one of several areas where "we want to be more active," says Payne, who notes that National City has used securitizations for its own balance sheet, but plans to become more active in that area.
National City will use derivatives, but the focus will continue to be on interest rate derivatives for the bank's small to medium-size corporate clients. The bank has no plans to expand its limited use of the more arcane credit derivatives that have become more popular among banks in the last few years.
Payne, whose career includes stints at Bank of America, Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities (now Banc of America Securities), and Morgan Stanley, where he was a principal, says his combined experience in commercial banking and in capital markets made him a good candidate in the eyes of National City.
