Nomura's co-head of investment banking is leaving as MDs promoted
It's managing director (MD) promotion day at Nomura, but the elevation of a handful of new managing directors is being overshadowed by bigger news.
Jeff McDermott, the bank's global co-head of investment banking, is leaving. McDermott joined the bank in April 2020 and had been scaling Nomura's investment banking franchise globally. He spent the past few years engaged in a "very significant push" to expand Nomura's ranks. Sources at Nomura say they've been informed that McDermott decided to leave and that Masahiro Goto will now be the sole of head of global investment banking.
Nomura declined to comment.
The Japanese bank has a fiscal year that runs from March to March, Nomura is slightly out of kilter with its global peers. It only announced bonuses earlier this month, following a 76% drop in quarterly profit in the most recent quarter. While other banks have been availing themselves of cheap talent from Credit Suisse, Nomura has been more circumspect - Christopher Wilcox, head of the wholesale business - said in March that hires would be on a case by case basis. 10% of London staff were cut in January.
McDermott's exit is a blow to Nomura's strategy of chasing green technology deals. The Japanese bank hired him when it acquired Greentech Capital Advisors, his green technology boutique in 2020. McDermott previously spent over a decade at UBS.
Amidst the uncertainty on McDermott's position, Nomura insiders say comparatively few people were elevated to the top rank in London: there are only four new banking MDs in EMEA. They are: Thomas Safi, an executive director in leveraged finance who joined from Deutsche Bank in 2018; Daniele Rossino in Milan; Ibrahim Peeran, head of secondary advisory in London; and Giovanni Di Stefano in the London risk solutions group.
One London insider said the small number of promotions were disappointing. "We're not a huge bank, but I would have expected a couple more."
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