Morgan Stanley has promoted a credit star in a booming business that’s poised to set records on Wall Street in 2021

• Morgan Stanley has promoted Rachel Russell, a long-time star in the firm’s credit division.
• Russell will run the bank’s booming CLO new issue business in North America, according to an internal memo.
• Russell joined the firm in 2004 and previously ran syndication for CLOs, ABS, and RMBS.

Morgan Stanley has promoted a long-time star in its collateralized loan obligation business — a red-hot corner of Wall Street that’s soaring to record levels in 2021.

Rachel Russell, a Morgan Stanley lifer, was promoted on Tuesday to head of the North America CLO New Issue business, according to an internal memo seen by Insider. The role will include overseeing structuring, syndication and warehouse, according to the memo from Niall O’Rourke, head of global secured lending for Morgan Stanley.

Russell previously oversaw syndication in the US for CLOs, asset-backed securities, and residential-mortgage-backed securities, a group that leads the process of securing investors, pricing deals, and raising capital for issuers.

“Rachel has been a leader in both the CLO and Structured Credit businesses since joining Morgan Stanley in 2004,” O’Rourke wrote in the memo. “She has been integral to the growth of Morgan Stanley’s CLO New Issue franchise and has led the efforts to expand the CLO investor base globally.”

A company spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo.

CLOs, which bundle together slices of loans from dozens of low-rated companies into a single investment vehicle, are booming in 2021. The asset class withstood a barrage of corporate distress from the pandemic last year, and the resulting popularity with investors is pushing CLOs to record levels.

Bank of America has forecasted that roughly $140 billion in new CLOs will be issued this year, a record amount according to Refinitiv, and some $220 billion in existing CLOs will be refinanced, pushing the global CLO market past $1 trillion.

Morgan Stanley is regularly a top-5 CLO bookrunner, according to league tables compiled by Dealogic.

Russell joined Morgan Stanley in corporate-credit sales in 2004. In 2012 she was tapped to build out the firm’s syndication desk and in 2018 she was promoted to managing director.