A sign outside the CIBC head office at King St. West and Bay St. in Toronto on April 17, 2014.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is moving some of its bond-trading operations from the United States to Canada, affecting what the bank called a "small number" of positions in its New York office.
CIBC confirmed that U.S. high-yield corporate bonds will now be covered from Canada, where the bank currently trades other U.S. bonds.
One of the people let go was Robert Cummings, who had more than 25 years experience in fixed income and was hired by CIBC in July, 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was head of U.S. fixed-income sales.
Also let go: Mark Jicka, who was hired in 2013; and Rick Zuck, executive director of high-yield trading, who was hired in 2012.
"We continue to have a strong business in New York focused on a range of capital markets trading, corporate banking and advisory solutions for our clients," the bank said in a statement.
CIBC had expanded its capital markets team in New York in 2011 as it increased its focus on high-yield debt and strove for more business with central banks and sovereign wealth funds.
More recently, the bank has set its sights on expanding its wealth management services in the U.S. It concluded a deal to buy Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management, which serves wealthy investors, in 2014. It has also said publicly that it would like to acquire a wealth management firm valued at up to $2-billion, but believes that current valuations are too high.
Although high-yield bonds suffered last year in anticipation of rate hikes in 2015 by the U.S. Federal Reserve, they have stabilized in recent months as economists have pushed back expectations for the Fed's first increase.
The minutes from the central bank's last monetary policy meeting, released on Wednesday, suggested that the U.S. economy's weak performance in the first quarter has instilled among central bankers a degree of uncertainty in the economic outlook.
David Berman