One SG CIB banker so far unmet, however, is Laurent Mortreuil, who sits in the division’s financial institutions group (FIG). Mr Mortreuil is interesting because he used to be involved in the asset and liability management (ALM) of SG’s own balance sheet but now, with ALM identified as the fastest-growing area of FIG (itself one of the fastest growing sectors in investment banking), the bank has cannily redeployed him selling ALM advice to other banks.
Most banks are going to need lots of this, say his bosses, De Doan-Tran, global head of FIG, and Pierre Mirat, European head of FIG (who joined in September 2003 from Morgan Stanley), as they reshuffle their portfolios to take account of Basel II and free up E50bn-E80bn of capital in Europe alone.
SG CIB is recruiting hard in the FIG area, and aims to bring its expertise in areas such as equity and fixed income derivatives to assist in the FIG space. One unique deal it has done is securitising life insurance premiums for the French subsidiary of a European life insurer – a big challenge because of the lack of historical data about redemptions and repayments in the sector. Brian Caplen
