Key Takeaways
- • RBC Capital Markets has hired two senior distressed-credit traders since March 2020: Jim Russo (former PointState Capital portfolio manager with six years of distressed sales experience at Citigroup) and Callie Simpkins (from Goldman Sachs' leveraged finance sales desk), positioning the firm to capitalize on pandemic-driven credit dislocations.
- • The hires represent a deliberate talent upgrade RBC has been planning for over six months, according to Adam Savarese (head of US high yield and distressed trading) and John Maggiacomo (head of US leveraged finance sales), both of whom identified the coronavirus market turmoil as an opportunity to recruit experienced personnel.
- • RBC's staffing moves reflect broader Wall Street repositioning: some investment banks are reassessing their sales and trading investments, creating a buyer's market for distressed-credit talent as firms prepare for an anticipated wave of corporate defaults and restructuring opportunities.
- • Russo brings crisis-era credentials from the 2008 financial crisis (prior roles at Barclays and Lehman Brothers) alongside recent portfolio management experience, while Simpkins brings institutional distribution relationships from her Goldman Sachs leveraged finance background.
Summary
RBC Capital Markets is aggressively building out its distressed-credit trading capabilities by recruiting senior talent in anticipation of significant corporate stress resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 2020, the firm has brought aboard Jim Russo as a director in distressed credit trading and Callie Simpkins as a director focused on distressed hedge-fund clients, both high-profile hires designed to strengthen RBC's leveraged finance platform.
Russo, who joined RBC last week, previously served as a portfolio manager at hedge fund PointState Capital and spent six years in distressed sales at Citigroup. His background includes experience during the 2008 financial crisis at Barclays and Lehman Brothers, providing direct exposure to large-scale restructuring environments. Simpkins is transitioning from Goldman Sachs' leveraged finance sales desk, where she began her career in 2013, and is expected to report to RBC in mid-May. While her primary focus will be servicing distressed hedge-fund clients, she will maintain broad responsibility across credit markets.
Adam Savarese, head of US high yield and distressed trading and a former Goldman Sachs partner who joined RBC in September 2019, emphasized that the firm has been seeking talent upgrades for more than six months. "We felt talent was available and that we could significantly improve the platform with a few key hires," Savarese told Business Insider. John Maggiacomo, head of US leveraged finance sales, added that market volatility created favorable timing: "These hires lined up perfectly, given the timing." Savarese attributed the recruitment opportunity to broader market reassessments at competing banks, which have begun retrenching their sales and trading investments amid the economic downturn.
The hires signal RBC's confidence in distressed-credit market opportunities as US companies face liquidity pressures from pandemic-related disruptions. Investment banks across Wall Street are staffing up their distressed desks in preparation for what industry participants anticipate will be a significant uptick in restructuring and distressed-debt trading activity.
Russo, who joined RBC last week, previously served as a portfolio manager at hedge fund PointState Capital and spent six years in distressed sales at Citigroup. His background includes experience during the 2008 financial crisis at Barclays and Lehman Brothers, providing direct exposure to large-scale restructuring environments. Simpkins is transitioning from Goldman Sachs' leveraged finance sales desk, where she began her career in 2013, and is expected to report to RBC in mid-May. While her primary focus will be servicing distressed hedge-fund clients, she will maintain broad responsibility across credit markets.
Adam Savarese, head of US high yield and distressed trading and a former Goldman Sachs partner who joined RBC in September 2019, emphasized that the firm has been seeking talent upgrades for more than six months. "We felt talent was available and that we could significantly improve the platform with a few key hires," Savarese told Business Insider. John Maggiacomo, head of US leveraged finance sales, added that market volatility created favorable timing: "These hires lined up perfectly, given the timing." Savarese attributed the recruitment opportunity to broader market reassessments at competing banks, which have begun retrenching their sales and trading investments amid the economic downturn.
The hires signal RBC's confidence in distressed-credit market opportunities as US companies face liquidity pressures from pandemic-related disruptions. Investment banks across Wall Street are staffing up their distressed desks in preparation for what industry participants anticipate will be a significant uptick in restructuring and distressed-debt trading activity.
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