Nomura said the team of specialists will be lead by Hyeonmuk Mun, previously head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) trading at Royal Bank of Scotland, and will focus on institutional clients and all leading MENA currencies. Hatem Jerad and Ali Debbagh will make up the other two members of the Dubai-based trading team. While Nomura has had an FX sales team focused on the region for some time, this is the first trading team for any product to be set up in the region, a bank spokesperson told EuromoneyFXNews.
Charlie Lovett-Turner, Nomura’s head of emerging markets rates and FX trading, said a locally based trading team specialising in MENA currencies will better assist the growing number of clients who want to trade these currencies and will complement the bank's presence in Middle Eastern credit trading.
Nomura, which has had a presence in the region since 1974, has offices in Dubai, Riyadh, Doha and Bahrain, and is branching out into the sukuk market. The bank recently completed its first lead-managed transaction for Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, successfully pricing a $500 million sukuk.
Nomura ranked 17 for the Middle East region in Euromoney’s 2011 FX survey with a market share of 0.39%, having lost 2 places from previous year when it had a market share of 0.5%.