Jez Walsh has left his position as head of covered bond syndicate at Royal Bank of Scotland after 15 years at ABN Amro and RBS, with Damon Mahon taking over covered bond responsibilities at the bank.

Walsh, who was a managing director at RBS, left the bank this week. He joined the old ABN Amro in 1999 and then RBS when it took over investment banking parts of the Dutch bank.

In an internal memo, Eric Capp, head of syndicate and high yield markets at RBS, paid tribute to Walsh’s work at the bank.

“Jez has held several leadership positions during this period and has led many ground-breaking transactions especially as we emerged from the financial crisis,” he said. “On behalf of all in DCM, coverage and syndicate, I’d like to thank Jez for his contribution over the years.”

Walsh’s departure is understood to have been a mutual decision between him and the bank, and he is not thought to have a new position lined up.

His exit comes after the departure of other RBS covered bond specialists including Christoph Anhamm from origination (to ABN Amro), Allen Rad from trading, and, last year, Jason Wolfe from structuring. The bank has nevertheless enjoyed some recent high profile covered bond mandates and in a busier sterling market this year is well ahead of its peers in the league table, and despite restructuring some of its businesses is understood to remain committed to the covered bond market.

Damon Mahon will take over covered bond syndicate responsibilities at RBS. He reports to Philippe Bradshaw, who is in charge of corporates and financial institutions syndicate within a streamlined structure at RBS, where the two areas have also been combined in debt capital markets.