MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Christian Call, Bond Trader!

Originally from Yonkers, Christian Powers Call leads a professional life few know, a smaller group would be able to understand and even fewer would be able to handle. He is a bond trader! A graduate of Fordham Prep, Christian is a life-long New Yorker. He is a gifted athlete and was top-ranked, nationally-recruited mid-defenseman prodigy who attended Boston College. After a successful college career, Christian redirected his competitive drive towards Wall Street where he began trading fixed income for Oppenheimer and Co. He has now traded high-yield and distressed bonds for 5 years for Tradition Asiel. For newly two decades, Christian has worked at firms from Merrill Lynch to Standard Bank of South Africa over three continents: North America, Europe and Africa. Christian is an active member of the Boston College Wall Street Council and enjoys running in Central Park. He resides in Manhattan a stone's throw away from Peachy Deegan's good friend Eloise at the Plaza and in his free time he enjoys watching the Fighting Irish being defeated in the Holy War in all sports by the most Irish Catholic school in America, which is Boston College of course.

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BOND DEFINITION FOR WHOM YOU KNOW READERS

What is a bond might you ask?

A bond is a debt instrument issued for a period of more than one year with the purpose of raising capital by borrowing. The Federal government, states, cities, corporations, and many other types of institutions sell bonds. Generally, a bond is a promise to repay the principal along with interest (coupons) on a specified date (maturity). Some bonds do not pay interest (like a zero coupon bond!), but all bonds require a repayment of principal. When an investor buys a bond, he/she becomes a creditor of the issuer. However, the buyer does not gain any kind of ownership rights to the issuer, unlike in the case of equities. On the hand, a bond holder has a greater claim on an issuer's income than a shareholder in the case of financial distress (this is true for all creditors). Bonds are often divided into different categories based on tax status, credit quality, issuer type, maturity and secured/unsecured (and there are several other ways to classify bonds as well). U.S. Treasury bonds are generally considered the safest unsecured bonds, since the possibility of the Treasury defaulting on payments is almost zero. The yield from a bond is made up of three components: coupon interest, capital gains and interest on interest (if a bond pays no coupon interest, the only yield will be capital gains). A bond might be sold at above or below par (the amount paid out at maturity), but the market price will approach par value as the bond approaches maturity. A riskier bond has to provide a higher payout to compensate for that additional risk. Some bonds are tax-exempt, and these are typically issued by municipal, county or state governments, whose interest payments are not subject to federal income tax, and sometimes also state or local income tax.

See, you learn something on Whom You Know!

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Peachy Deegan sat down with Christian Call: Mr. Call recently offered his financial expertise to Whom You Know readers to provide a light at the end of the tunnel in the current financial turmoil.

Peachy Deegan: What do most people not understand about what went wrong in the financial markets that has progressed into the current situation?
Christian Call: That the current crisis is going to take years, not months, to get out of. If the government had made the banks more accountable in the first place, we would have never gotten this far and be in this position. Now that we are here, it's going to take several, if not many years to unravel all of this...

How has your job changed over the last year due to the economy, if at all?
Yes it has. Trading in high yield and distressed bonds have both substantially fallen off, as all credit has grinded to a standstill. It won't begin to be normal again until banks start lending to each other again, and/or until more companies go bankrupt.

What is a typical day like for you?
When I get in, there are many Bloomberg messages. I establish my trading levels: i.e. bid and asks for the various credits and maturities and put them out to the street. Then it is a matter of trading and reacting to news and being profitable.

What qualities make a successful bond trader?
Patience and the ability to spot a good opportunity before anyone else. With patience, I mean the fortitude to be able to wait for the good opportunities and not just commit capital to a blind situation. Have the ability to listen to your analyst and trust your better judgment before you rush in. A bit of luck never hurts either!

If you had money put aside now how would you invest it?
I do have money put aside and I have been investing it in CDs and Annuities. Both keep principle intact and pay a small amount of interest...

What is the funniest joke that you have seen played on a trading desk?
No comment

How does real life compare to movies like Wall Street?
Wall St is actually a great depiction of real life on wall st. People like Charlie Sheehan and Michael Douglas do really exist.

What is your favorite place to be in NYC?
Central Park

What is your favorite shop?
Saks Fifth Avenue

What is your favorite drink?
Kettle One and tonic

What is your favorite restaurant?
Nobu

What is your favorite NYC book?
Zagat

What is your favorite thing to do in NYC that you can do nowhere else?
Jog in Central Park

What else should Whom You Know readers know about you?
That I stand up for the little guys