The departure of co-head of investment banking, Asia ex-Japan, Colin Banfield from Nomura leaves the firm’s business in the region being run by a man with no track record there. Banfield, who has been hired by Citi to run its M&A business in Asia, held that same role at Lehman Brothers and then Nomura before being promoted along with co-head Patrick Schmitz-Morkramer to run the Japanese firm’s investment banking business in Asia when previous head Glenn Schiffman moved to the US to oversee Nomura’s business there.
Now Banfield’s departure leaves Schmitz-Morkramer in sole charge of Nomura’s Asia-ex Japan investment banking business. Schmitz-Morkramer was, until he took up the role in Asia, Nomura’s co-country head in Germany, as well as being head of investment banking for Germany and Austria. He has a background in both M&A and capital markets transactions in Europe, Nomura says, and worked as co-head of investment banking for Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Lehman Brothers before joining Nomura.
| "What would be complementary to the team here is the global connectivity and track record of building a successful investment banking business that I can bring" |
He faces the challenge of persuading as many colleagues as possible to remain at Nomura, despite several recent high-profile departures (see People: Nomura heads nowhere fast, Euromoney, April 2010).