Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) announced Keith Allman will be joining the firm on Aug. 14 as Managing Director and Head of U.S. Esoteric Asset Backed Securities (ABS).

Based in New York, Allman will build upon the firm's world-class ABS underwriting platform and help expand its Securitized Products business to cover additional niche assets. He will report to Tricia Hazelwood, MUFG's International Head of Securitized Products.

MUFG is among the top-three conduit lenders and 10 largest ABS underwriters in the U.S., with a sizable footprint in the auto, credit-card, fleet-leasing, equipment, and car-rental sectors. With 17 years of structured finance and aviation experience in banking, Allman will play a key role in extending the Securitized Products group's coverage to include esoteric assets such as aircraft, shipping containers, timeshare, cell towers and venture debt.

"Keith's hire reaffirms our commitment to expansion," said Hazelwood. "His knowledge of the aviation sector should dovetail well with our recent acquisition of DVB Bank's aviation lending portfolio of nearly $7 billion."

A former banker at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, Allman was most recently an investor at Loomis Sayles & Company. He began his career in financial engineering and is the author of four books on financial modeling.

Allman earned a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. (dual degree) in political science and psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The U.S. operations of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), one of the world's leading financial groups, has total assets of $339.7 billion at March 31, 2019.