Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) has hired Jared Epstein, former head of flow credit trading at BNP Paribas, to take the helm of the asset manager’s new division for fixed-income exchange traded fund trades, according to a report.
Epstein is coming in to help build Jefferies’ expansion into ETFs tied to debt, report Matthew Leising and Lisa Abromowicz for Bloomberg.
Jefferies provides clients with market-making services for equity ETFs. They are seeking to offer debt-related ETF services.
Fixed-income ETFs have grown in popularity after the volatility scare witnessed last year and on assurances from the Federal Reserve that interest rates will remain at their near-zero levels at least until late 2014. Specifically, high-yield, junk bond ETFs have drawn higher inflows as investors sought out areas with greater yields in a times of historic low Treasury yields.
The asset manager also sponsors two ETFs:
- Jefferies | TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production (NYSEArca: WCAT). [Jefferies Energy ‘Wildcatters’ ETF]
- Jefferies | TR/J CRB Global Commodity Equity Index Fund (NYSEArca: CRBQ). [Jefferies Commodity ETF]
The company has stated its intent to expand into the ETF industry, but has not launched any new recent offerings. [Jefferies Has Big Plans for Growing ETF Line]
Max Chen contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.