UBS Wealth snares exec to head muni group

UBS Financial Services Inc. said it hired Thomas G. McLoughlin, former chief executive officer of National Public Finance Guarantee Corp., as head of municipal bond research for its Wealth Management Americas unit. McLoughlin will lead a team of municipal analysts at the firm, a unit of Zurich-based UBS AG with about $680 billion in assets under management. Based in New York, he will also join UBS's Wealth Management Research Management Committee, said UBS spokesman Kris Kagel. The appointment takes effect July 26. McLoughlin led National Public, the municipal-bond insurance unit of MBIA Inc., since its formation in February 2009, according to a National Public statement. William C. Fallon, president and chief operating officer at Armonk, New York-based MBIA, owner of the largest bond insurer, will become interim CEO at National Public, the statement said. “Given the ongoing challenges that municipalities are dealing with across the United States, the need for research on this important investment sector has never been greater,” wrote John Brown, head of Wealth Management Solutions at UBS, and Wealth Management Research head Mike Ryan in an internal memo to employees announcing the decision today. McLoughlin joined MBIA in 1994 and formerly headed global public finance, global transportation and infrastructure as well as the company's western region, according to National Public. Prior to MBIA he was vice president at money manager Legg Mason Inc. and before that a municipal securities analyst in public finance at Moody's Investors Service, Kagel said. He is a former chairman of the California Society of Municipal Analysts and a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, Kagel said. Brad Gewehr held the post McLoughlin will take over before leaving in May, according to Kagel.