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Word reaches me that Richard Leighton has now assumed responsibility for fixed income Europe at Standard Chartered, as well as continuing to run FX globally. “Last year, our business in Europe grew an impressive 143%. To ensure our continued ability to build on our success and take our business to the next level, we will be strengthening our organisation by aligning our structure with that in place in Americas, MENA and Africa and appointing Richard Leighton as head of trading for fixed income for Europe,” says an internal memo, quashing talk that Leighton is going to retire.

PFGBEST, the US full commission merchant, has promoted Bruce Pollack to vice-president of its FX division. Pollack joined the company in September 2007 as global FX director. “Forex is the fastest growing of our market sectors,” says PFGBEST president Russ Wasendorf. Pollack is an industry veteran, having started his career in 1975 with Lind-Waldock and Co on the CME floor.

The well-regarded Chris Matonti, who left Morgan Stanley towards the end of 2008, has apparently joined State Street in FX sales real money.

--Sarika Gangar

Dan O'Sullivan has followed Ben Welsh out the door at UniCredit, where O’Sullivan was global head of FX trading. The two, who met at Goldman Sachs, have worked together for many years. O’Sullivan was one of Welsh’s first hires, joining the bank in October 2007 from HSBC NY. Market talk is that UniCredit’s decision not to pay bonuses for 2008 was a major reason why the two decided to quit. Well-placed sources say that neither one of the duo has anything firm lined up, but that they are likely to resurface soon. At the time of writing, there was no confirmation from UniCredit about the latest departure.

While we urge caution about recovery signaled by the stock market rally, we are quite optimistic about the operations of financial markets, especially for fixed-income instruments and credit in general.

A wider client focus with an eventual move into retail banking to ensure more stable funding will follow the implementation of a new shareholder structure at Gulf International Bank.

--Cristina Pittelli

--Rob McGlinchey

SEI is expanding its outsourcing services for Geni Capital LLP to support Geni's partnership with AREIT Management Limited and the newly launched Geni GCC Commercial Real Estate Opportunities Fund.

For those of you waiting patiently for the results...

The bevy of real estate investment trusts that completed stock offerings over the past two weeks have seen slight to substantial increases in their share prices. There are likely a few reasons behind the increases, including an upward trend in the broader equity markets, according to Rich Moore, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Moore also speculated that investors may think that if a REIT has the ability to issue equity, then it has the ability to manage its maturing debt and other expenses. The offerings have been across all sectors, he added.