Nomura Holdings Inc is reorganising its global finance team in Asia outside of Japan, according to an internal memo, as Chief Executive Officer Koji Nagai pursues his overhaul of the country’s biggest brokerage.
Global finance units within the investment banking and fixed-income divisions will reconfigure into two main streams: debt origination including debt capital markets, private placements, leveraged finance and private financing activities; and risk solutions, according to the memo obtained by Bloomberg.
Less than two months into the job, Nagai is reshaping Nomura by pledging to cut $1 billion of costs and make Asia the centre of its global operations. The Tokyo-based company began eliminating about 30 per cent of jobs at its European, Middle East and African investment banking division last week, according to a person briefed on the plans.
Jonathan Williams, a Singapore-based spokesman for Nomura, confirmed the contents of the memo by phone on Tuesday.
Mark Leahy, the head of debt syndicate and debt origination for Asia excluding Japan, is leaving as part of the reorganisation, according to the document.
Leahy, who is based in Singapore, confirmed his departure as part of the broader staff cuts when contacted on his mobile phone yesterday and said his last day will be the end of this week.
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Leahy was previously head of debt syndication at Deutsche Bank AG, a position he left in early 2009. Before joining Nomura, Leahy co-founded and was a managing director of Arrive Private Investments, a startup brokerage business within the Arrive Wealth Management group in Melbourne.
Debt Origination
Djamal Attamimi will take on the role of head of debt origination for Asia ex-Japan, reporting to Daniel Mamadou, the head of global finance for the region, according to the memo.
Shares of Nomura rose 0.7 per cent to 289 yen at the lunch break in Tokyo. They have gained 12 per cent since Nomura unveiled the cost-reduction plans on August 31. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) climbed 0.3 per cent in morning trading.
Nagai’s revamp follows a four-year struggle by his predecessor Kenichi Watanabe to build a business overseas after buying Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European and Asian units in 2008. About 45 per cent of the latest cost savings will come from Europe, 21 per cent from the Americas and 34 per cent from Asia and Japan, the company said this month.
While the firm is paring investment banking and equities divisions, it plans to expand fixed-income operations. Nomura will reassign people from other divisions to join the unit, two people with direct knowledge of the matter this month.
Carol’s Role
Clayton Carol has been named head of debt capital markets for Asia, reporting to Attamimi, according to the memo. Carol will also assume a new role in the leadership of debt syndicate in Asia outside of Japan, to be announced separately.
Chris Chan becomes head of risk solutions and treasury services for Asia excluding Japan, and will report to Mamadou. Andrew MacGonigal has been appointed head of debt origination and solutions for Australia, also reporting to Mamadou.
Separately, Nomura hired Stuart Oakley as global head of Asian non-deliverable forwards and head of foreign exchange cash trading for Asia excluding Japan, according to an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Oakley, based in Singapore, will report globally to Jai Rajpal, global head of foreign exchange, and regionally to Rig Karkhanis, head of fixed income for Asia excluding Japan. Oakley joins from Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, where he was head of Asia emerging markets foreign-exchange trading, also based in Singapore.