Barclays Capital Revs Up Credit Derivatives Hiring

Barclays Capital is in hiring mode when it comes to U.S. credit derivatives.

The Web site SecuritizationNews.com reports the bank wants to add another eight people to its existing 17-man collateralized debt obligation - or CDO - team. Kristofer Kraus, head of North American CDOs, told the site BarCap's CDO business has grown faster than expected. He said two secondary CDO traders are already in the hiring pipeline, and he's seeking structurers and product managers for the remaining roles.

Last month, Benoit de Vitry, BarCap's head of Commodities, revealed plans to add between 30 and 40 new staff at the bank, with most of the hires in the U.S. Last September, the bank said it would add 10 new staffers to its U.S. equity derivatives team during 2006.

All of this hiring is part of BarCap's "Alpha Plan" to add around 3,000 frontline bankers globally between 2004 and the end of 2006.

In London, however, financial recruiters say that the bank's appetite for staff is waning, at least in credit derivatives. "Barclays Capital haven't finished hiring in European credit derivatives, but their pace of recruitment is much diminished," says one London search consultant specialising in the sector. "They're no longer the driving force for hiring in this area - that mantle has passed to BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO and RBS."