Bankers are not known for their sense of humor, but while an undergrad at Yale University, Tomer Seifan, head of prime brokerage structured products and the funding desk at BNP Paribas in New York, was a member of the New Haven school’s oldest running improvisational comedy group. Seifan also earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center — joining another group of professionals not known for making people clutch their sides. Laughing aside, Seifan, 35, has some serious responsibilities these days. At BNP, which he joined in October 2008, he is developing financing solutions for hedge funds and other prime brokerage clients. The issue of hedge fund financing has had to be completely rethought in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings’ bankruptcy. BNP has been front and center, in part thanks to the work Seifan is doing with the bank’s hedge fund clients to create financing structures that better safeguard their assets.

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