Susannah Page, a former director in the municipal research sector at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has joined Roosevelt & Cross Inc.
Page was among three directors who left BofA's research department in July as the bank shifted its focus from credit analysis to strategic research.
"Roosevelt & Cross has been a premiere underwriter in the business since 1946 with long established relations," Page said in an interview. "The people I work with here are certainly smarter, faster and have a deeper understanding of the market than much of the Street does. The firm is intent on increasing its footprint in municipals, and sees credit analysis as an essential component of that effort."
Page began working in Roosevelt & Cross' New York offices on March 31 as the senior vice president of the municipal research department. The team consists of Page and vice president Nicholas Trindade.
"Roosevelt & Cross is a smaller firm," she said. "The sales team is smaller; it's a more intimate group. There's a lot more emphasis on New York, New Jersey and the New England region."
The muni analyst said she looked forward to visiting clients with the firm's sales representatives.
"I will be supporting the sales and trading teams as well as working on surveillance for deals we've underwritten and sold," she said. "I will be working on all sectors from soup to nuts."
Page, who joined BofA in 2011, had published weekly health care credit and sector commentary.
"Here I am more of a generalist," she said. "I've worked in a lot of different sectors during my career. It's exciting to look into different topics and be able to grow."
Page left BofA Merrill along with Senior Director Howard Sitzer and Managing Director John Hallacy.
"Bank of America made a business decision to take municipal research in a different direction," she said. "They changed from a focus on credit analysis to a focus on strategic analysis."
BofA hired Phil Fischer, a public finance veteran, to be reinstated to his previous position as the head of municipal research.
Since leaving BofA, Page has worked as a consultant to Fitch Ratings.
"Someone at Fitch had seen the story The Bond Buyer had written about our departure from the bank," she said. "When they saw I was available they called and asked if I would go work for them again. I was very grateful for that opportunity."
Before joining BofA, Page had been a consultant at Fitch, where she analyzed hospital and senior living credits and wrote rating updates.
Prior to that Page was the associate director of credit risk management for Depfa Bank, Radian Asset Assurance and Financial Guaranty Insurance Co.
Hallacy is currently the managing director of Public Finance at Assured Guaranty, Sitzer was an analyst at Barclays Capital from August 2013 to February 2014.
