Moves – Morgan Stanley hires dedicated fixed-income ETF trader
Morgan Stanley is hiring a dedicated fixed-income exchange-traded fund trader in the latest sign of the increasingly pivotal role these broad-based products are playing in bond markets.
Michael Kahn is set to join Morgan Stanley in July as head of fixed-income ETF trading in New York. Kahn will report to Jon Davis, the bank's co-head of US flow credit trading. Most recently, Kahn was focused on fixed-income ETF trading at Jefferies. He previously worked at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley in ETF trading roles across equities and fixed income.
ETFs have emerged as a crucial tool for managing risk in corporate bond markets as the popularity of these products has grown and credit markets have become more electronic. BlackRock, a major provider of fixed-income ETFs, forecasts assets in these products will grow to US$6trn by 2030, up from US$2.6trn at the end of last year.
Nonbank trading firms such as Jane Street have built a strong position in fixed-income ETFs, which have allowed them to gain ground in credit trading more broadly.
Morgan Stanley and other banks have also been ramping up their own investments in this space as part of a broader push towards transforming their credit trading businesses as corporate credit markets evolve.
