BNP Paribas Asset Management appointed Steven Billiet Head of Asia Pacific, effective August 8. He succeeds Ligia Torres, who is retiring. Billiet joined BNPP AM earlier this year as Head of Distribution Asia Pacific and will retain his regional distribution responsibilities in addition to his role as head of the region. Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Sandro Pierri, BNPP AM’s Global Head of Client Group, and locally to Eric Raynaud, Head of BNP Paribas in Asia Pacific. Billiet’s financial services career spans more than 25 years, of which 18 were in Chief Executive Officer roles of divisions within global organisations in Australia, India, Singapore and Taiwan. He was most recently Chief Executive Officer for JP Morgan Asset Management in Singapore.
Bank of America named Soofian Zuberi, head of global equity sales, as co-head of the unit that buys and sells stocks and equity-linked derivatives and arranges financing for hedge funds, Business Insider reported. Zuberi, a 25-year veteran of Bank of America and its predecessor who has been the global head of equities distribution, will share leadership duties with Fab Gallo..
MarketAxess Holdings, the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, and the provider of market data and post-trade services for global fixed-income markets, announced the election of Kourtney Gibson to its Board of Directors, effective July 16. Gibson is President of Loop Capital Markets, one of the largest privately-held investment banking, brokerage and advisory firms headquartered in the U.S., which provides capital solutions for corporate, government and institutional clients.
Hudson Fintech, the London-based Capital Markets technology firm, announced two senior appointments to support its growth strategy. Ashley Daffin joins as Director of Strategic Development, responsible for global development strategy. Ashley has worked in Capital Markets FinTech for 30 years, which includes institutional sales roles at HSBC, NYSE and Refinitiv, as well as working with a variety of FinTech start-ups on business development. Martin Best joins as Head of Business Development, responsible for managing client relationships. A fixed income specialist, Martin has worked in senior sales and relationship management roles for over 30 years, including fixed income sales at Alpha Bank, Danske Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, LBBW and most recently Rabobank.
Gramercy Funds Management, a dedicated emerging markets investment firm, announced that Mohamed A. El-Erian has been appointed Chair of the firm, a new position. El-Erian has been an investor and Senior Advisor to Gramercy since April 2019. His work with the firm has focused on global macroeconomic themes and their implications for emerging market investments.
Broker-dealer Cowen Inc. hired six people for its Cross-Asset Division. Mike Kasper, Jodi Joskowitz, Jordan Cahn and Ronald Ryder have joined the Credit Sales and Trading desk. Jay Sommer and Matt Palamountain have joined Cowen’s Special Asset Group. All report to Jay McDermott and Burt Welly, Co-Heads of Cross-Asset, and Philip Cushman, Head of Global Equity and Cross-Asset Sales.
Cahn began his credit career at Bear Stearns, followed by Morgan Stanley and Mizuho Financial Group. After leaving the legal world as a bankruptcy attorney, Cahn was a loan sourcer and then moved into distressed sales.
Joskowitz joins Cowen from Macquarie Capital and will be active through all Cross-Asset products. Joskowitz is an impact player in the Loan space, with a twenty-year career spent at Credit Suisse. Kasper joins Cowen from Guggenheim Partners. Kasper has spent his career in High Yield and Distressed sales focused on bonds and loans, including serving five years at JP Morgan and Jefferies respectively.
Palamountain joins Cowen from Seaport Global where he specialized in Litigation Finance which he will continue to focus on at Cowen as well as broader Special Asset initiatives. Ryder joins Cowen from Guggenheim Partners, where he was a credit trader. Sommer joins Cowen with nearly twenty years of experience in the Special Assets space. He previously worked at Jefferies Group and BTIG in similar areas of the market. Cowen also hired Matthew Penfold, a veteran US sales trader, from Macquarie Group, The TRADE reported. Penfold joins the firm in London in a similar role, after spending the past nine years with Macquarie sales trading US equities to institutional clients and hedge funds. Prior to Macquarie, Penfold was a US sales trader for Piper Jaffray and also worked as an international dealer with Insight Investment. He began his career at Rothschild as a dealer trading international equities for long-only funds.
