From startup to big bank: BMO bought their company, now they run its global trading desks

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Dan Goldman and Levent Kahraman have joined a growing number of U.S. executives in BMO’s senior ranks running key parts of the bank from Chicago or New York as the Canadian lender pursues an ambitious expansion south of the border

, KGS-Alpha Capital Markets LP. After the businesses merged, the two men could have cashed out and moved on. They had worked side by side for much of their earlier careers, first at Salomon Brothers and then at Citibank, and selling their company no doubt came with a windfall.

Instead, they stayed and rose through the ranks of BMO’s capital markets division. First, they ran the global fixed-income, currencies and commodities desk. Then they were named co-heads of global markets last October, when previous headWhat convinced them to stay, they say, was the fit with BMO: It’s a balance of aggression and speed tempered by controls and restraint they hope will help them rapidly expand the bank’s markets business while avoiding the excesses of Wall Street trading.

Mr. Goldman and Mr. Kahraman founded KGS-Alpha in 2010 to specialize in the structuring, trading and distribution of mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities. Those instruments, which package assets such as real estate loans into financial products, got a bad reputation for helping fuel excessive risk-taking leading up to the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

By 2018, however, the securitization market was steadier and BMO was in the early stages of building up its own mortgage-backed securities business. Acquiring KGS-Alpha was a way to speed that up, adding 1,200 client accounts, 50 sales reps and 30 traders and structurers. Once Mr. Goldman and Mr. Kahraman were inside the bank, top executives saw they had a knack for running a business with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Promoting them to the top ranks of BMO’s capital markets arm ahead of long-tenured bankers is the kind of move that can put noses out of joint, but can also inject fresh energy into a business. In 2020, BMO

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