KBW Builds Up Its Depository Investment Banking Group
KBW, Inc., which stands for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, announced today that it was increasing its Depository Investment Banking Group with a pair of significant hires at the MD level. The full-service investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector issued a press release saying investment bankers James Harasimowicz and Joseph Gulash have joined the firm as Managing Directors in the Depository Investment Banking Group.
The hires represent a continuation of the firm’s commitment to its core depositories business. Founded in 1962, KBW is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and has established itself as a leading independent authority in the banking, insurance, brokerage, asset management, mortgage banking, real estate and specialty finance sectors, while maintaining industry-leading positions in research, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions as well as sales and trading in equities and debt securities of financial services companies.
Mr. Harasimowicz has rejoined KBW’s investment banking platform in New York for a transition period. It's anticipated that he'll become the head of the firm’s Chicago office in early 2012. An industry veteran with more than 24 years of experience, Jim has served as Co-Head of the Merrill Lynch’s Depository Group, was a Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney and a Principal at KBW. Most recently he was a founder of Longview Partners LLC, a multi-strategy hedge fund specializing in financial services. Over his career, he has worked on $25 billion in transactions including several major bank mergers and transformational acquisition financings. He has helped develop leading edge capital instruments for financial institutions and supported the creation of several start-up banking, specialty finance and real estate companies. He has a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College.
Mr. Gulash is based in KBW's San Francisco office. He joins the firm from D.A. Davidson & Co. where he led merger and acquisition and capital markets transactions for banking companies in the Western United States. He covers financial institutions across the region, including California, the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Gulash has advised on transactions in excess of several billion dollars and his experience includes sourcing, negotiating and executing whole-bank, branch and FDIC-assisted M&A transactions and public and private equity offerings. He is also a frequent speaker on industry topics at banking events and conferences. Earlier in his career, Mr. Gulash provided management and strategic consulting services to financial services companies at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona.
KBW, Inc. operates in the U.S., Europe and Asia through its broker-dealer subsidiaries: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Limited and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Asia Limited.
