Calyon’s management uncovered a large position of credit indices in its New York office’s proprietary trading desk last month. The bank said positions were largely built at the end of August and were above internal limits. Calyon said appropriate disciplinary action had been taken and controls strengthened to prevent any repeat. The losses, following a winding down of the positions, were €250 million.
Loïc Fery, global head of structured credit and CDOs, trading, structuring and sales, has left Calyon. So has US head of credit markets Zain Abdullah. There are rumours of other departures up to six people. Fery is a well-known market participant and led a high-profile push by the French bank into structured credit. Calyon suffered high-profile departures at the end of 2006 when Alex Rekeda and his structured credit team decamped to Mizuho.