Jefferies Continues Securitization Business Expansion

Jefferies continues to expand its residential/commercial mortgage- and asset-backed securities effort with the hiring of a new managing director and head of the company's MBS/ABS/CMBS group in Boston. Mark Plansky, who previously worked for Barclays for eight years, was hired to lead the Boston securitization group. Jefferies said its MBS/ABS/CMBS group now includes more than 60 sales, trading and origination professionals in the U.S. and London, including former RBS Greenwich Capital CMBS researcher Lisa Pendergast, whom it hired in June as head of CMBS strategy and risk.