JP Morgan builds in hedge fund sales

LONDON & NEW YORK – JP Morgan is building up its hedge fund sales teams on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mike Grise is joining in New York and Tim Hall has been hired in London.

Grise joins from Goldman Sachs in New York, where he was a vice-president in foreign exchange hedge fund sales. It is believed he will be moving into a similar role at JP Morgan, but it is unclear who he will be reporting to.

Meanwhile, Hall joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, where he also worked in hedge fund sales, reporting to London-based Graham Wintersgill, who headed the desk. At JP Morgan, Hall will work in the institutional hedge fund sales team for Europe, reporting locally to Andrew Simon, head of institutional FX sales for FX in Europe. He has previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort on the FX institutional sales desk with Wintersgill; both left to join Merrill Lynch (FX Week, February 5, 2007).

The hires follow several months of changes at JP Morgan in London and New York. Bijon Mehta from FX electronic commerce in New York recently resigned to join Morgan Stanley (FX Week, March 1). In London, David Fulkerson in macro FX sales and Elean Theodorou, global head of FX e-commerce, have also left (FX Week, February 8 and 22).

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch declined to comment.