Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has hired a new US environmental trader at its Houston office.

Mike Taylor, previously a senior vice president of carbon and emissions trading at Element Markets, where he’d been from 2008 to 2015, joined BTG last month according to an industry source and Taylor’s LinkedIn profile.

He will trade carbon, NOx and SOx, and renewable energy credits at BTG, his LinkedIn profile showed.

At Element, Taylor managed the company’s emissions trading and asset management desk in carbon programs, emission reduction credit programs, and federal and regional allowance programs across the US.

Prior to that, he was an emissions trader at Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy and NRG Energy.

Taylor joins BTG Pactual at a tough time for the Latin American lender.  The bank has laid off almost a fifth of its staff in Brazil amid efforts to cost cuts, sell assets and dismantle some trading desks in the region following the arrest of its founder and former head late last year.

Andre Esteves was detained by Brazilian authorities over suspected links to a corruption scandal at state-owned oil company Petrobras, allegations that led to his resignation from BTG.

Esteves, who has since been released, has denied any wrongdoing, while BTG itself is not part of the investigation, the Financial Times reported late last month.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com

Not yet signed up to CP Daily? Subscribe to our free newsletter here