RBS Nabs Bear Stearns Banker

Royal Bank of Scotland has poached Bear Stearns banker Justin Vorwerk as a managing director in its leveraged finance group as part of its effort to expand the business.

Vorwerk is currently a senior managing director in the financial sponsor group at Bear Stearns. He will join Royal Bank of Scotland "in a few weeks," according to a spokesperson for the bank.

His new responsibilities will include coverage of financial sponsors. He will based in New York and report to Ron Kantowitz, managing director and head of its leveraged finance group.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is rapidly growing its leveraged finance business at a time when private equity is experiencing a surge in growth.

The bank's leveraged loan volumes have outperformed market growth and rose about 800% in the past four years.

The bank arranged $34 billion in loans last year, leaving Barclays Capital in second place with $21 billion.