Cantor Fitzgerald: Where structured credit old boys are getting hired

Last time we looked at structured credit hiring, there wasn't much going on. Mortgage securitization was creeping back in the US, but it was still moribund in Europe and potential hirers were sitting on their hands. It's exciting, therefore, that Cantor Fitzgerald has suddenly leaped into the European structured credit market. Even better, it's recruited some veterans from back before the crash.

Cantor announced today that it's hired Jason Eppleston as head of structured credit origination in Europe. Eppleston worked at Bear Stearns as a managing director in origination and structuring for seven years between 2001 and 2008. He then became an entrepreneur, before joining Investec for a year between February 2011 and March 2012. According to the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) register, Eppleston hadn't worked in a registered finance role in London for more than a year when he joined Cantor.

Cantor's also hired another Bear Stearns alum. Damian Horton joins Eppleston as a CDO structurer and deal originator. Horton worked at Bear Stearns as an analyst for nearly a year and a half between December 2006 and March 2008. He stayed on for a year at JPMorgan, before becoming going to Pioneer, Prudential, and then setting up his own financing business - Comufin - for ten months between July 2012 and April 2013.

Is this the start of a whole heap of hiring for a new structured product business at Cantor in Europe? Unfortunately not. "We're not hiring more people at this stage," said Eppleston. "Damian and I need to get some deals done first."

Eppleston said he's hopeful that deal volumes in Europe can recover to 2005 levels. For the moment, he said most banks are trying to run European structured credit out of the more buoyant U.S. market - "But that's not really what clients want."

Cantor's also hired: Martin Deville, a managing director and asset backed securities trader who came out of UBS and Florian Bita, the former Head of CLO and Structured Products Trading at UBS. Bita joins in the New York office.