Bear Stearns boosts European marketing effort

Bear Stearns International has poached two derivatives marketers from rivals BNP Paribas and Citigroup to build its European derivatives marketing effort.

Patrick Willis has joined from French bank BNP Paribas – where he covered derivatives marketing, trading and risk management – as a managing director in Bear Stearns’ debt corporate finance division. He will market derivatives to European clients and report to Yves Leysen, Bear Stearns' senior managing director and head of debt corporate finance for Europe.

Meanwhile, Mathias Echene joins from US investment bank Citigroup as managing director of Bear Stearns’ French sales team covering credit derivatives and fixed income. Echene will be based in London and report to Bear Stearns’ senior managing director and head of fixed-income distribution for Europe, Jerome Camblain.

The firm also hired Ricardo Figuerola as a vice-president of its Iberian team. He will distribute credit products in Portugal, and also sits under Camblain.