Ken Gambone, a 30-year muni market veteran, has been promoted to the head of public finance at TD Securities after serving as the company’s head of the western region for seven years.
Gambone replaced Eileen Solla-Diaz, TD Securities’ previous head of public finance, who retired.
“It was very easy to elevate Ken,” said Rick Fogliano, the head of municipal products at TD Securities. “Ken is invaluable to the team and few bankers I’ve ever met have the kind of experience Ken has.”
Gambone joined TD Securities in 2016 and has worked in the municipal bond market for 30 years. He began his career at Salomon Brothers, followed by Lehman Brothers, and then to Barclays when it acquired Lehman Brothers in 2008.
In Gambone’s seven years at TD Securities, the company has expanded its public finance operations from focusing on the East Coast to cover the entire country.
TD Securities began offering products like guaranteed investment contracts, interest rate swaps and remarketing relatively recently, Gambone noted, and the company hopes to grow its business in these areas and as a bond underwriter.
Gambone referenced a fixed-rate bond deal that TD Securities managed for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as an example where TD Securities “added value.”
“That was a nice achievement for us,” Gambone said. “We outperformed and brought in new investors and brought in tighter spreads than they had priced [to triple-A scales] on previous transactions.”
Gambone’s career history has been an asset during the company’s expansion and in its plans to continue building its reputation, he said.
“That’s been really exciting to me, to build that business and to introduce the TD brand to many states around the country — that in some cases weren’t familiar with TD, but they were familiar with my work,” Gambone said. “We’ve been really well received; a big AA-rated institution introduced to clients … with a familiar face.”
In his new role, Gambone wants to continue to expand the business.
TD, he said, is one of the largest banks in the world as a global institution. And despite being a Canadian investment bank, Gambone said, TD Securities is “a local bank, especially down the Eastern Seaboard … but the broker-dealer does have a national presence.”
As part of the expansion, TD Securities has made some new hires. This comes as a time when some larger firms are scaling back their business and cutting employees, according to Fogliano.
“It just makes a lot of sense to continue to grow our public finance team and our muni platform in general,” he said. “And, Ken is the perfect guy to do it.”
Fogliano said Ken has a “bigger Rolodex than anyone I know and he’s very well received by clients, financial advisors, you name it.”
He said TD Securities is committed to the muni business.
“We want to take this business to the next level, and we think Ken on the public finance side can really help us do that,” Fogliano said.
In early May, TD Bank Group and First Horizon Corp. agreed to terminate a planned merger agreement due to insurmountable regulatory approvals.
Under the terms of the termination agreement, TD made a $200 million cash payment to First Horizon, in addition to a $25 million fee reimbursement due to First Horizon pursuant to the merger agreement.