Siebert Williams Shank Launches Quantitative Solutions Group Headed by Giles Nicholson

January 18, 2024 at 11:00 AM EST

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Siebert Williams Shank & Co. (SWS) announced the formation of a new Quantitative Solutions Group to be headed by Giles Nicholson, a public finance industry veteran who has developed and executed complex financing structures for major investment banking institutions. The addition highlights Siebert Williams Shank’s steadfast and growing commitment to expand its public finance practice in 2024.

Nicholson comes to SWS with over 34 years of experience in municipal finance, most recently as Head of the Quantitative Strategies Group at UBS. In that capacity, he coordinated the firm’s quantitative ideas generation and modeling techniques, which were integral to obtaining and executing lead managed transactions.

Based in Siebert Williams Shank’s New York office, the Nicholson-led group will coordinate ideas generation and execution across the entire public finance client base, with a focus on products and strategies that are tailored to specific client needs and market conditions.

With a team of five people reporting to him from offices across the country, Nicholson will target three major goals as the firm’s newest Managing Director and Head of the Quantitative Solutions Group: provide clients with the best ideas possible in turbulent market conditions; allow the firm to share best practices from a central repository; and enhance training and development opportunities for the firm’s junior bankers.

“I am delighted that Siebert Williams Shank continues to attract high quality talent to our growing firm,” said Suzanne Shank, President and CEO of Siebert Williams Shank. “Hiring Giles along with other senior and experienced hires over the last year demonstrates our deep commitment to public finance at a time when our competitors are laying off in droves or retrenching from the sector entirely.”

“We are eager to leverage Giles’ deep expertise and experience to provide our muni issuer clients with the best and brightest ideas to achieve their financial objectives,” said Gary Hall, President of Infrastructure & Public Finance at the firm. “I know he will contribute greatly to SWS being a perennial leader in the public finance industry.”

Prior to his six-year tenure at UBS, Nicholson held senior leadership and analytical roles at JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, and Wells Fargo. He earned his BA at Harvard College, where he studied Economics.

“I am very excited to join the Siebert Williams Shank and Co. team,” Nicholson said. “The firm is deeply committed to the success of its clients and provides the highest quality of service to them with innovative and actionable ideas.”

Nicholson was instrumental in the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 2002 debt restructuring and its subsequent refinancing in 2012. He also provided extensive quantitative support and ideas generation for the 2023 Chicago Sales Tax Securitization and tender, which earned The Bond Buyer’s prestigious Deal of the Year award in December. In addition, he helped facilitate the State of Oregon’s 2023 Higher Education General Obligation transaction.

Nicholson has developed and participated in debt financings for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the New York Municipal Water Finance Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Texas Water Development Board, and the University of California, among others throughout his career. His specialties include tenders, pooled loans, restructurings, defeasances, and energy prepays.

Dually headquartered in New York, NY and Oakland, CA, SWS is an independent non-bank financial services firm that offers investment banking, sales and trading, research, and advisory services. Its mission is to exceed expectations through value-added results and leave a lasting impact on the sectors, corporations, and communities it serves. SWS counts 74 Fortune 100 companies among its clients.