BofA Equity Chief Gallo Said to Shake Up Sales, Promoting Crosby

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. equities chief Fabrizio Gallo is executing his second major management shakeup since moving to New York in 2015, giving two executives more control of operations handling stock sales to customers.

Jason Crosby, 45, is succeeding Patrick Whalen as head of equity execution services for the Americas, running electronic, cash and swaps distribution in addition to his previous post atop global portfolio products, according to people with knowledge of the matter. AC Morgan IV, 47, is replacing Michael Breheney as the region’s head of sales trading, a role that includes oversight of cash stock transactions. Morgan reports to Crosby.

Equities were a strength for Bank of America in the first quarter, with revenue from sales and trading climbing 7.4 percent, more than at most major U.S. rivals, including market leader Morgan Stanley. But within the division, cash equity volumes weakened, Chief Financial Officer Paul Donofrio told analysts on a conference call last month. The unit benefited from more activity across products in Europe and Asia, he said.

Gallo’s deputy, Soofian Zuberi, announced the moves to staff last week, the people said, asking not to be named discussing personnel. Selena Morris, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, declined to comment. Managers included in the shakeup either said they couldn’t immediately comment or didn’t respond to messages.

Whalen, Breheney

Whalen, a 53-year-old managing director, is taking a senior relationship-management role in equity sales, the people said. He joined the firm in 2015 and previously ran trading at AllianceBernstein. Breheney, 43, is becoming a senior sales trader, the people said. He has spent more than a decade at the company, rising to head of Americas sales trading across high-touch businesses in 2015 as several high-ranking executives left.

Crosby rejoined the bank in 2012 from Morgan Stanley, having jumped between the two firms a few times in a trading career that started in 1998, according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records. He had led portfolio products and exchange-traded funds at Morgan Stanley. AC Morgan joined in July 2015 after six years at UBS Group AG, Finra records show.

Last year, Gallo reorganized major parts of his equities empire as firms across Wall Street reeled from a first-quarter market rout that cut sales and trading revenue. He named Glenn Koh to run global equities trading operations as Steve Bayardelle, the former head of equities execution services, left.

In this year’s first quarter, Bank of America’s stock-trading market share among global banks increased to 10.9 percent from 9.8 percent a year earlier, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.

--With assistance from Arie Shapira and Hugh Son

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura J. Keller in New York at lkeller22@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net, David Scheer, Steve Dickson