Job Wrap: Snafu at Morgan Stanley

There were job moves aplenty at Morgan Stanley last week. Philip Purcell, chairman and chief executive, announced the appointment of two new co-presidents, Stephen Crawford and Zoe Cruz. Crawford was formerly chief financial officer at the bank; Cruz was head of fixed income.

The ascension of Crawford and Cruz was followed by a flurry of departures. It emerged that Stephan Newhouse, the former president, had resigned. Morgan Stanley said it offered Newhouse an alternative position reporting directly to Purcell, but he chose not to take it.

Resignations were not restricted to Newhouse. Vikram Pandit, president of institutional securities, also resigned as did John Havens, head of institutional equities, and Guru Ramakrishnan, a high ranking trader.

Purcell came under fire from a group of eight former Morgan Stanley executives who took out a page ad in the Wall Street Journal urging him to resign. The ad highlighted the underperformance of Morgan Stanley's stock, the bank's decline in revenue and falling margins.

Merrill Lynch Reshuffles at the Top

Merrill Lynch made some high level changes of its own. The bank named Jeffrey Edwards as its new chief financial officer. Edwards, who is currently head of investment banking for the Americas, replaces Ahmass Fakahany, who has been promoted to vice chairman and chief administrative officer.

Victor Nesi and Hugh Sullivan replace Edwards as co-heads of investment banking for the Americas.

Investment Banks: Calyon Hires from HSBC; HSBC Hires from Merrill and AIG

Calyon, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Crédit Agricole Group, hired John G. Christensen from HSBC as a managing director in its real estate finance group.

HSBC Securities hired Stephan Kiratsous from Merrill Lynch for its financial institutions group. Kiratsous joins as managing director and head of insurance investment banking Americas.

HSBC Securities hired Don Lee from AIG Financial Products as managing director, head of foreign exchange derivatives for the Americas and global head of foreign exchange exotics.

Deutsche Bank Securities made two hires for its collateralized debt obligations (CDO) group. Tony Pawlowski, a director in structured credit products at Citigroup, joins as a director responsible for CDO marketing and distribution. John Kim, a vice president in the structured products group at CDC Ixis, joins as a vice president in CDO structuring.

BNP Paribas hired Aaron Ford as a managing director and senior equity derivatives marketer. Ford joins from KBC Financial Products where he was head of US equity derivatives.

JPMorgan Chase hired four traders and strategists to expand its power and natural gas trading business. The hires include George Taylor of Morgan Stanley, who joins as global head of gas and power trading, and Parker Drew, another former Morgan Stanley employee, who joins from running his own hedge fund.

Banc of America Securities formed a new 'Premier Equity Group' within its equities division to provide sales coverage to the middle markets and prime brokerage clients. The new group will be headed by Michael Molnar, who joins as managing director from Citigroup's institutional investor group.

Other Moves

Cantor Fitzgerald raided Bank of America for Kevin Griffin, a veteran pass-through trader. Griffin joins as managing director in a newly created position running the pass through securities desk.

Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based hedge fund manager, hired Ben Cheng for its new Toronto office. Cheng joined from CI Mutual Funds, where he was one of several portfolio managers who oversaw the CI Signature High Income fund.