Barclays has another shakeup in US structured team

By Shankar Ramakrishnan and Adam Tempkin

Nov 7 (IFR) - For the second time in two years, the US structured finance team at Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) is going through a major upheaval, with the departure of two of its most senior bankers.

The bank has already announced their replacements, but the reshuffle could deal a blow to a franchise that has featured among the top three banks of IFR's structured finance league tables over the past several years.

Cory Wishengrad, the co-head of Americas securitized products origination, left Barclays to become senior managing director in the asset-backed debt group at Guggenheim Partners.

Sources said Wishengrad, who has been co-head of the overall structured finance group since April 2010, will be taking up his new post in February.

Wishengrad's exit followed the October 31 departure of the other co-head of the group, Diane Rinnovatore, who spent 16 years at the bank.

Senior (Other OTC: SNIRY - news) bankers at Barclays dismissed talk that the departures would hurt the team, which is currently ranked second in the Thomson Reuters SDC league table for US ABS underwriters.

REBUILDING, AGAIN

The bank's structured finance team was hit with a similar - and even wider - spate of defections just two years ago.

At the time, then co-head Jay Kim left with at least 10 of his bankers to Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - news) . Kim is now the head of Credit Suisse's US securitized-products team.

In response, Barclays rebuilt its team by hiring back Martin Attea from Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) , which he joined from Barclays in November 2009, and poaching several other ABS specialists from across Wall Street.

Attea was appointed as the senior originator of consumer securitization transactions - and Barclays has turned to him again, tapping the veteran to replace Rinnovatore as co-head of the US securitized products group.

Meanwhile Ben Fernandez, a director in the US esoteric ABS group, has been named the new head of the esoteric ABS business previously managed by Wishengrad.

It is unclear how other reporting lines will be affected. As co-head, Attea had been announced as manager of the consumer and mortgage ABS areas after Rinnovatore's departure.

He was to report jointly to Jim Glascott, the head of global debt capital markets, and Scott Wede, the head of global securitized products trading.

The esoteric ABS group was to become a part of the bank's global leveraged finance business, reporting to Jean-Francois Astier, the head of global leveraged finance.

But IFR understands that Barclays could keep all the structured finance business under Attea and not move the esoteric side to the leveraged finance part of the group.

In any case, rivals could see the latest upheaval as a chance to steal away some market share.

"It is great news for the rival banks because it gives them a reason to convince clients to choose them over Barclays," said one banker.

"Guggenheim, which is looking to build a structured finance expertise, will benefit from having Wishengrad there because he has been very active in the esoteric or non-traditional ABS space, which is growing fast."

Wishengrad, who is also a Lehman Brothers veteran, led an esoteric ABS team at Barclays that played an instrumental role in reviving the market for securities backed by non-traditional collateral such as timber and restaurant franchise fees.

TAKE AWAY

For its part, Guggenheim has poached a number of Barclays (Frankfurt: BCY.F - news) bankers in recent months. In April, it hired away a five-member senior investment banking team that focused on the retail, apparel and restaurant industries.

And banks that have hired away top Barclays bankers in recent years have seen their market share sizes grow.

Credit Suisse, for example, has seen its share of the US structured finance market rise to 9.4% so far this year from 8.3% over the same period in 2012.

RBC (MCX: RBCM.ME - news) , which hired about five bankers led by Giuseppe Pagano from Barclays in late 2010, has this year seen its market share rise to 9.5% from about 7.8% over last year.

Barclays said it is committed to remaining a force in the sector.

"Our securitized products origination business is an industry leader and remains a core part of our franchise," Glascott, the global DCM (KSE: 024090.KS - news) head, told IFR.

"We are completely focused on delivering for our clients, and our activity in the market this week is a testament to that commitment."

Barclays is in the market this week leading a USD1bn deal for Sallie Mae, a USD1bn deal for Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) , a USD1.15bn deal for Amex and a USD630m Freddie Mac STACR deal.