FBR Forms MBS Biz With Freddie Alumni

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc., Arlington, Va., has announced the formation of an institutional mortgage-backed securities trading business based on a team of MBS professionals from Freddie Mac.The team will be led by Michael Swell, formerly vice president and head of Freddie Mac's Securities Sales and Trading Group, and its trading operation will be led by Robert Cole, formerly head trader at Freddie's SS&TG. The new MBS team will be combined with FBR's asset-backed securities trading unit. "Having a meaningful ABS and MBS sales and trading effort is one of our key growth initiatives as a company and directly supports our increasing commitment to the mortgage- and asset-backed sectors of the capital markets," said Richard J. Hendrix, FBR's president and chief operating officer. FBR can be found online at http://www.fbr.com.