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"We are building out as a global franchise, whereas many investment banks in Australia offer limited connectivity" |
Nomura is making progress in building its Asia franchise despite a run of high-profile departures, according to new regional investment banking head Patrick Schmitz-Morkramer. Senior staff to have left the firm in recent months include Colin Banfield, co-head of investment banking Asia ex-Japan; Siggi Thorkelsson, head of Asia equities; Thomas Siegmund, co-head of fixed income for Asia ex-Japan; and Jane Wang, vice-chairman, China investment banking. All were ex-Lehman Brothers bankers, and all have gone on to work for competitors of Nomura, although sources inside and outside the Japanese bank say the leavers will have had differing reasons for seeking new employers.
Now running the firm’s Asia ex-Japan investment banking operations without the help of the experienced Banfield, Schmitz-Morkramer says that although there have been departures the firm has also been actively recruiting experienced bankers as it builds in Asia-Pacific. The strategy is to build strong in-country teams in what it has identified as key markets, beginning with Australia.
To that end Nomura has hired Citi veteran Peter Meurer as chairman of investment banking, Deutsche Bank’s M&A banker Grant Chamberlain, and ex-Deutsche financial institutions expert Ian Maxton, as well as a number of capital markets bankers from rival franchises and whole teams of professionals including eight equity analysts from RBS.