Cantor Launches Structured Products Group

Cantor Fitzgerald, a leader in the fixed-income market, has launched a structured products group with the hire of two senior executives.Gina Hubbell, formerly managing director and head of the Structured Credit Group at UBS, and Edward LaScala, formerly head of Debt Syndicate at HSBC, joined Cantor two weeks ago. Hubbell will lead the new group and report to Irvin Goldman, CEO and President of Cantor.

The new group will consist of the two new hires to start, but Hubbell says she plans to hire two to three new people by year-end. "We are the conquering force," notes Hubbell, "but we do plan to hire, primarily in the structuring and transaction execution areas."

Structured products are an essential part of fixed income, which is why Cantor created the group. "This is just such an intrinsic part of fixed income now," Hubbell says. "Clients definitely are otherwise participating in this type of market, and we want to supplement our existing business with structured concepts and products." She adds that the new product offerings will also help bring in new business.

The new hires initial objectives are to integrate the structuring capability into Cantor's fixed-income business and build on it, Hubbell explains. The goal is to create additional value to clients via structured trades in areas such as credit and mortgaged backs, as well as to introduce new issues, cross asset class securitization, CDOs, securitized portfolios, etc. There are many types of products that the group can offer, but Hubbell cautions, "We don't want to get into too much all at once." Ultimately, she says. "We want to be strategic and creative-and figure out how we can be different.Cantor Fitzgerald, a leader in the fixed-income market, has launched a structured products group with the hire of two senior executives. Gina Hubbell, formerly managing director and head of the Structured Credit Group at UBS, and Edward LaScala, formerly head of Debt Syndicate at HSBC, joined Cantor two weeks ago. Hubbell will lead the new group and report to Irvin Goldman, CEO and President of Cantor.