By Michael Wursthorn
A Merrill Lynch executive responsible for the brokerage's
structured lending products has resigned to join regional bank
OneWest Bank NA.
The executive, Jay Sanders, stepped down earlier this month to
join OneWest in Pasadena, Calif., a Merrill spokeswoman confirmed.
Mr. Sanders, who didn't return a message seeking comment, indicated
on LinkedIn that he joined OneWest as its executive vice president
and head of private banking.
A OneWest spokesman didn't immediately confirm Mr. Sanders's
hiring.
Banks have been putting greater emphasis on debt products within
their wealth-management divisions, urging brokers to get clients to
take out more loans against their portfolios rather than having
investors sell securities to raise cash.
Bank of America most recently reported that loan balances within
its global wealth-management unit stood at $131 billion in the
first quarter, a 10% increase from the year-earlier period.
To fill the void left by the 13-year Merrill Lynch veteran,
Kevin Moyer, managing director and credit and banking executive
within Bank of America's global wealth and investment management
arm, named Kurt Niemeyer as Merrill Lynch's national structured
credit executive, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street
Journal.
Mr. Niemeyer, who joined Merrill in 2009, will lead Merrill
Lynch's credit products to high-net-worth clients, according to the
memo. Mr. Niemeyer had previously reported to Mr. Sanders. He will
now report to Mr. Moyer, who oversees all structured and
securities-based lending within Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust, Bank
of America's private banking unit.
Despite the different titles, the two roles are essentially the
same. Mr. Sanders held that position for two years.
Mr. Sanders is the second West Coast-based Merrill Lynch
executive to resign this month. Brian Riley, who oversaw a portion
of the firm's ultra-wealthy-client group on the West Coast also
left in April. He joined First Republic Bank's wealth-management
division as its executive vice president of investment
management.
(Street Moves chronicles the migration of executives on Wall
Street, with a particular emphasis on financial advisers with more
than $1 million in annual production and those who manage more than
$100 million in client assets. Michael Wursthorn can be reached at
212-416-2218 or at michael.wursthorn@wsj.com.)
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