Last checked at 
By Shankar Ramakrishnan and Adam Tempkin
Nov 7 (IFR) - For the second time in two years, the USstructured finance team at Barclays is going through a majorupheaval, with the departure of two of its most senior bankers.
The bank has already announced their replacements, but thereshuffle could deal a blow to a franchise that has featuredamong the top three banks of IFR's structured finance leaguetables over the past several years.
Cory Wishengrad, the co-head of Americas securitizedproducts origination, left Barclays to become senior managingdirector in the asset-backed debt group at Guggenheim Partners.
Sources said Wishengrad, who has been co-head of the overallstructured finance group since April 2010, will be taking up hisnew post in February.
Wishengrad's exit followed the October 31 departure of theother co-head of the group, Diane Rinnovatore, who spent 16years at the bank.
Senior bankers at Barclays dismissed talk that thedepartures would hurt the team, which is currently ranked secondin the Thomson Reuters SDC league table for US ABS underwriters.
REBUILDING, AGAIN
The bank's structured finance team was hit with a similar -and even wider - spate of defections just two years ago.
At the time, then co-head Jay Kim left with at least 10 ofhis bankers to Credit Suisse. Kim is now the head of CreditSuisse's US securitized-products team.
In response, Barclays rebuilt its team by hiring back MartinAttea from Morgan Stanley, which he joined from Barclays inNovember 2009, and poaching several other ABS specialists fromacross Wall Street.
Attea was appointed as the senior originator of consumersecuritization transactions - and Barclays has turned to himagain, tapping the veteran to replace Rinnovatore as co-head ofthe US securitized products group.
Meanwhile Ben Fernandez, a director in the US esoteric ABSgroup, has been named the new head of the esoteric ABS businesspreviously managed by Wishengrad.
It is unclear how other reporting lines will be affected. Asco-head, Attea had been announced as manager of the consumer andmortgage ABS areas after Rinnovatore's departure.
He was to report jointly to Jim Glascott, the head of globaldebt capital markets, and Scott Wede, the head of globalsecuritized products trading.
The esoteric ABS group was to become a part of the bank'sglobal leveraged finance business, reporting to Jean-FrancoisAstier, the head of global leveraged finance.
But IFR understands that Barclays could keep all thestructured finance business under Attea and not move theesoteric side to the leveraged finance part of the group.
In any case, rivals could see the latest upheaval as achance to steal away some market share.
"It is great news for the rival banks because it gives thema reason to convince clients to choose them over Barclays," saidone banker.
"Guggenheim, which is looking to build a structured financeexpertise, will benefit from having Wishengrad there because hehas been very active in the esoteric or non-traditional ABSspace, which is growing fast."
Wishengrad, who is also a Lehman Brothers veteran, led anesoteric ABS team at Barclays that played an instrumental rolein reviving the market for securities backed by non-traditionalcollateral such as timber and restaurant franchise fees.
TAKE AWAY
For its part, Guggenheim has poached a number of Barclaysbankers in recent months. In April, it hired away a five-membersenior investment banking team that focused on the retail,apparel and restaurant industries.
And banks that have hired away top Barclays bankers inrecent years have seen their market share sizes grow.
Credit Suisse, for example, has seen its share of the USstructured finance market rise to 9.4% so far this year from8.3% over the same period in 2012.
RBC, which hired about five bankers led by Giuseppe Paganofrom Barclays in late 2010, has this year seen its market sharerise to 9.5% from about 7.8% over last year.
Barclays said it is committed to remaining a force in thesector.
"Our securitized products origination business is anindustry leader and remains a core part of our franchise,"Glascott, the global DCM head, told IFR.
"We are completely focused on delivering for our clients,and our activity in the market this week is a testament to thatcommitment."
Barclays is in the market this week leading a USD1bn dealfor Sallie Mae, a USD1bn deal for Volkswagen, a USD1.15bn dealfor Amex and a USD630m Freddie Mac STACR deal.
