Birmingham, AL-based Sterne, Agee & Leach, a privately-owned investment banking and brokerage firm, has bolstered its fixed income division with seven hires.

The new group includes Katya Baron, David Jacob, Brendan Keane, Mike Krull, Dariush Pouraghabagher, John Rozario and John Woodruff. They will work across the firm's CMBS trading, RMBS trading and Structured Finance Solutions groups.

Jacob and Krull join as co-heads of CMBS trading in the structured products group. They are based in New York City and report to Adam Robison, co-head of structured products.

Meanwhile, Pouraghabagher has been named as managing director and head of residential mortgage credit trading in the structured products group. Likewise, Woodruff joins as vice president in the structured products group. Both are based in New York City and also report to Robison.

Finally, Keane, Baron and Rozario have been added as the newly-created structured finance solutions group. Lead by Keane, the group’s purpose will be to generate business from structured finance-related sources. The new team is based in New York City and reports to Bill Fedyna, co-head of structured products.

The moves follow three fixed income hires last week.