Former Citi banker Rasmussen to head muni sales, trading at Cabrera

Cabrera Capital Markets has hired ex-Citi banker Tom Rasmussen as a managing director to head municipal sales, trading and underwriting as it climbs up the rankings.

Rasmussen, who worked at Citi for more than 33 years running and forming teams, said he couldn't say no to the opportunity to run Cabrera's municipal trading and sales team with an eye to continued expansion.

Most recently, Rasmussen, who started at Cabrera last week, was managing director of municipal capital solutions and debt capital markets at Citi. He managed U.S. and global municipal financial services including sales, trading, asset management and product development as well as working directly with clients and conducting credit analysis.

Cabrera Capital Markets

Rasmussen's hire demonstrates Cabrera's continuing commitment to expanding its municipal division by hiring established, and proven, leaders in the industry, said Martin Cabrera Jr., the firm's founder and chief executive officer.

He replaces Merita Kulpsinski, a 16-year veteran of Cabrera, who had been the interim managing director since late 2023. She will continue in her role as a senior underwriter.

Rasmussen left Citi during a downsizing round in August 2022, ahead of the firm's complete exit from municipal bonds announced at the end of 2023.

"I was running the capital derivatives group when Citi made the decision to exit those businesses globally," Rasmussen said. "At the time I wasn't planning on coming back into the market. It was literally when Mario Carrasco called that I decided to come back."

Rasmussen had worked closely with Carrasco, who was hired away from a position heading Citi's southeast muni division in 2022 to head public finance for Cabrera.

"My feeling is Cabrera is more like a family," Rasmussen said.

"Everyone is committed to best execution and to serving the client, which is the same thing the teams at Citi did. We assessed what was needed and worked on solutions for borrowers and lenders," he said.

"Tom's stellar reputation at Citigroup precedes him and we are excited to have him lead our municipal sales, trading, underwriting efforts," Carrasco said.

Rasmussen was hired with the aim of expanding the firm's distribution with both traditional and non-traditional accounts, said Robert Aguilar, president of Cabrera Capital Markets.

Cabrera plans to continue to add to its core public finance franchise and also to expand its national and regional sales and trading team, Aguilar said.

Under Carrasco's leadership, the trading and sales teams are expanding their coverage to include project financing, higher education, health care and transportation, he said.

Cabrera began adding senior bankers in early 2022, and has been among those capitalizing on the exits late last year of UBS and Citi from municipal underwriting.

Cabrera, and other banks with muni business, have been competing for those firm's veteran bankers. Since February, at least 65 individuals, and likely more, have landed at firms of varying sizes across the country.

"One thing that has been amazing is the success all of the Citi folks have had in relocating to other firms," Rasmussen said.

"I don't think anyone was expecting the department to close. There is lot of expertise sprinkled around the street at this point," he said.

"It created an opportunity for many of us to exit and think of other entrepreneurial opportunities we would like to be involved in," Rasmussen said.

Cabrera hired three former UBS bankers in March as part of its national expansion plans. Shawn Dralle in Los Angeles as managing director to head West Coast public finance, Shawnell Holman in Houston as executive director and Chris Bergstrom in New York to head public transportation finance.

It also made four significant hires in 2022, hiring Carrasco, bringing on Ricardo Salazar from the Dallas Independent School District, municipal bond trader Alberto Puentes and Raquel Tello, who signed on as public finance coordinator.