Vikram Rai joins First New York

Vikram Rai has joined investment firm First New York as a portfolio manager and macro trader after leaving Wells Fargo earlier this year.

Rai joined the company Tuesday. He will report to David Abramson, the firm's head of trading. First New York bills itself as the "preferred destination for portfolio managers seeking to partner in an opportunistic environment" and says it "provides experienced portfolio managers with infrastructure and capital to deploy their strategies," according to its website.

The move comes about a month after Rai left Wells Fargo & Co. He had been at Wells, where he was head of municipal markets strategy, since September 2023.

Before joining Wells, Rai was at Citi for nearly 16 years, most recently as a managing director of fixed-income. He was let go in June 2023, a few months before the firm exited the muni bond business.

Previously, he was in Citi's U.S. rates trading group. Prior to joining Citi in 2007, he worked in the private equity division of Old Lane LLP, a hedge fund.

Rai is a prominent voice in the municipal market who hosted popular weekly client calls at Citi and Wells with detailed reports that highlighted hot-button issues facing the market.