NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 31, 2010) - BNP Paribas is pleased to announce the appointments of the following Managing Directors to its Americas credit business: Rob Barrett and John Price join the trading desk reporting to Jared Epstein, head of flow credit trading in the Americas. Gerry Weston, Nick Stratopoulos and Bob Bleckman have started on the sales side reporting to Patrick McKee, head of credit sales, Americas.
Rob Barrett joins in New York and will focus on cross over and high yield trading. Rob spent 22 years at J.P. Morgan and was most recently with Christopher Street Capital.
John Price joins to focus on hybrid capital, preferred stock and capital securities. He spent ten years with Lehman Brothers and before that held positions at Merrill Lynch and Knight Libertas.
Commenting on the appointments, Jared Epstein said, "BNP Paribas is aggressively expanding its credit business in the Americas. We are in a great position to continue gaining market share and we plan to continue hiring high caliber talent to join our team."
Bob Bleckman joins the San Francisco office; he has spent over 24 years in the North American credit markets. He joins from BTIF LLC in San Francisco, prior to which he held positions at UBS and Paine Webber. Bob covers West Coast institutional accounts and will report to Patrick McKee in New York and Ken Austin, head of institutional relationship management in San Francisco.
Nick Stratopoulos joins in New York. He brings with him over 18 years of Wall Street experience from positions at J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse First Boston, Barclays Capital, and most recently at RBS. Nick covers hedge funds, insurance companies, asset managers, bank proprietary desks and bank credit portfolio management teams. He also reports to Patrick McKee.
Gerry Weston also joins in New York. Gerry's career includes a long tenure with Lehman Brothers as a corporate bond trader, Millenium and most recently Knight Libertas. In his new role, Gerry covers insurance companies, asset managers and hedge funds. He reports to Patrick McKee.
Patrick McKee said, "As we increase the breadth of clients we serve and expand our distribution abilities, we will continue to hire salespeople at all levels and deepen our relationship with investors."
About BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking
BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking employs 16,000 people in over 50 countries and services 13,000 corporate and institutional clients worldwide.
BNP Paribas CIB excels in:
Derivatives -- where it is one of the leading global players in rates, credit, forex, commodity and equity derivatives.
Capital markets -- where it is one of the top European houses in both ECM and DCM (bond, securitization, convertibles and equity issuance)
Structured finance -- where it is amongst the leaders in acquisition, export, project, energy and commodity finance globally.
www.cib.bnpparibas.com
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the six strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's* and the largest bank in the eurozone by deposits. With a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees, including 160,000 in Europe, BNP Paribas is a leading European provider of financial services on a worldwide scale. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Retail Banking, the Group has four domestic markets: Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated model across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a large network in the United States. BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending in Europe. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia and the Americas.
*Within its peer group
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