UBS Reinforces Junk-Debt Trading Business with Two New Appointments

UBS, the Swiss banking group, has appointed two traders from Morgan Stanley as the bank seeks to reinforce its junk-debt trading business in the US, according to a Bloomberg report today.

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Jeff Chang and Vivek Raman have reportedly left Morgan Stanley and are due to join UBS in October and September respectively. Chang will take the role of an executive director, overseeing US high-Yield corporate bond trading in New York. Raman will also join as a director.

The latest additions reflect the bank’s renewed interest in securing talent after bank chief Andrea Orcel recently indicated that the division was putting on hold, at least for the time being, years of job cuts which took a toll on fixed-income operations.

Industry Moves

The UBS hires add to a series of leadership changes across the industry this year on desks handling trading in speculative debt.

Deutsche Bank recently added James Nessel from Citigroup to run its US bond trading team after Timothy Fischer stepped down from the role. At Citigroup, Amit Raja was recruited to oversee high-yield trading in Europe, the Middle East and Africa following the departure of another trading executive.

Bloomberg has also reported that high-yield trader Marc Aiello left Morgan Stanley last month, joining Royal Bank of Canada this week as a vice president, while another Morgan Stanley employee, David Schulte, joined RBC earlier this year as a vice president focusing on high-yield trading.