Company hires and sector developments

Aviation firm appoints treasurer

Wings Capital Partners has hired Jakob Gallagher as vp, treasurer and capital markets. Prior to joining Wings, Gallagher served as vp on the MUFG aviation team who covered originations for the Americas. Prior to joining MUFG, he worked at Aircastle where he focused on capital markets and joint ventures. Jakob raised secured and unsecured financings for their platform (recourse and non-recourse) and managed investor relations.  Prior to joining Aircastle, he held a role at Deloitte in the securitisation consulting practice.

Insurance president appointed

Hamilton Insurance Group has promoted its cfo Jonathan Reiss to president of its new strategic partnerships business unit. Tony Ursano, previously president of TigerRisk Partners, replaces him as cfo. Reiss’ new role includes oversight of the company's third-party capital platform, Hamilton Capital Partners. Hamilton has also completed its acquisition of Pembroke Managing Agency and its platform at Lloyd's, as well as Dublin-based carrier Ironshore Europe from Liberty Mutual Group.

Mexican legal firm bulks up

Solgarco has hired Jorge Martinez as partner focusing on asset-backed and structured finance, including project finance, real estate finance, securitisations and more. He was previously at Thompson and Knight.

Risk transfer platform

Cobbs Allen has formed CAC Specialty, a specialty insurance brokerage and investment banking platform designed to offer creative risk transfer solutions to public and private companies and private equity sponsors. CAC Specialty combines structured finance solutions with insurance broking capabilities and will be led by a team of experienced insurance and capital markets executives. Paul Sparks (who has more than 25 years of experience as the founder and head of the financial services division of McGriff, Seibels & Williams) will serve as executive chairman; David Payne (who was previously the chief revenue officer of JLT) will be the chief revenue officer; Jack Leventhal (senior md and executive officer at Teneo Capital) will lead the investment banking business; and Bruce Denson (president of Cobbs Allen) will serve as president. Teneo’s capital advisory business will maintain a strategic relationship with the firm.

Volcker Rule amended

The OCC and the FDIC have signed a final rule amending the Volcker Rule to tailor and simplify it while maintaining protections core to the safety and soundness of the federal banking system. The amendments aim to eliminate ineffective complexity and address aspects of the rule that restrict responsible banking activity, including clarifying the way in which banks trade securities using their own funds. Once the US CFTC, the Fed and the SEC have also approved the changes, they will be published in the Federal Register. Moody’s CLO analysts have reviewed the language provided by the FDIC and believe that the changes do not address the rule's provisions that are applicable to CLOs. Indeed, the agencies are still considering the ‘covered fund’ definition and related exemptions, and intend to address these in a separate proposed rulemaking.