TORONTO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has hired a former Lehman Bros official to lead its investment banking operations, CIBC said on Tuesday.
Geoff Belsher, a former co-head of U.S. investment banking for BMO Nesbitt Burns and later head of Lehman's Canadian operations, will become CIBC's global head of investment banking, CIBC World Markets spokesman Kevin Dove said.
His appointment is part of a move by CIBC, Canada's No.5 bank, to carve up CIBC World Markets, its corporate and investment arm, into three distinct business lines: investment banking, corporate credit and merchant banking.
All three will report to Richard Nesbitt, chief executive of CIBC World Markets.
David Leith, deputy chairman at CIBC World Markets, is leaving the company as part of the restructuring.
Laura Dottori-Attanasio, formerly of National Bank Financial, will lead a new global corporate credit unit.
Paul Farrell will lead the merchant banking group in Canada and Mark Hastings will lead in the United States.
Among Canadian banks, CIBC was the hardest hit by the credit crisis. Nesbitt told employees the global credit upheaval is one of the reasons the bank reorganized its business lines, and made credit a stand-alone group geared toward expanding lending, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported.
Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September due to the fallout from the U.S. subprime credit crisis. CIBC executives have said that the bank's mark-to-market loss on various Lehman-related positions was about $25 million.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Peter Galloway) Keywords: CIBC/ (john.mccrank@thomsonreuters.com; +1 416 941 8083; Reuters Messaging: john.mccrank.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Geoff Belsher, a former co-head of U.S. investment banking for BMO Nesbitt Burns and later head of Lehman's Canadian operations, will become CIBC's global head of investment banking, CIBC World Markets spokesman Kevin Dove said.
His appointment is part of a move by CIBC, Canada's No.5 bank, to carve up CIBC World Markets, its corporate and investment arm, into three distinct business lines: investment banking, corporate credit and merchant banking.
All three will report to Richard Nesbitt, chief executive of CIBC World Markets.
David Leith, deputy chairman at CIBC World Markets, is leaving the company as part of the restructuring.
Laura Dottori-Attanasio, formerly of National Bank Financial, will lead a new global corporate credit unit.
Paul Farrell will lead the merchant banking group in Canada and Mark Hastings will lead in the United States.
Among Canadian banks, CIBC was the hardest hit by the credit crisis. Nesbitt told employees the global credit upheaval is one of the reasons the bank reorganized its business lines, and made credit a stand-alone group geared toward expanding lending, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported.
Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September due to the fallout from the U.S. subprime credit crisis. CIBC executives have said that the bank's mark-to-market loss on various Lehman-related positions was about $25 million.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Peter Galloway) Keywords: CIBC/ (john.mccrank@thomsonreuters.com; +1 416 941 8083; Reuters Messaging: john.mccrank.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.