Nomura's macro salespeople are apprehensive about their new boss
Times are changing in Nomura's macro trading team. The Japanese bank is hiring, and gently shunting existing people aside.
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The new recruits include James Harvie, a former co-head of emerging market sales at Deutsche Bank in North America, who's just resurfaced at Nomura in New York where he says he'll be growing the FX and emerging markets business. Harvie's arrival follows that of Gokay Gecili, who arrived unexpectedly from Barclays in May as a managing director (MD) in CEEMEA rates trading.
While Gecili's appearance doesn't seem to have been entirely popular in London, neither he nor Harvie are the main source of concern on Nomura's macro desk. That accolade goes to Filippo Zorzoli.
Zorzoli, one of Barclays most senior rates sales people, is joining Nomura in October in a role that has yet to be determined. Zorzoli is presumably currently on holiday somewhere during his well-timed gardening leave, but his new colleagues are not having a good summer waiting for his arrival.
Nomura already has a head of rates sales in the form of Darren Shames who joined from RBS (now known as NatWest) in 201. Nomura's rates sales team is loaded with all sorts of other people who joined from NatWest in 2018, and who followed Steve Ashley, Nomura's friendly ex-RBS former head of wholesale banking who stepped down at Nomura in 2022. Ashley's acolytes have been weakened at Nomura ever since. The fear is that when Zorzoli arrives, Ashley's many friendly sales guys will be moved aside.
Some already have been. A few weeks ago, Robbie Anderson, Nomura's head of rates sales, voluntarily left the bank. Now, Gary Hyman, the co-head of G10 rates sales, has been moved into the twilight of a vice chairman role.
Nomura's rates trading team has already been purged of some ex-RBS people following the arrival of Nat Tyce as global head of markets (EMEA) in 2023. Tyce appears to be behind Zorzoli's arrival too and has already made various hires from Deutsche Bank and elsewhere. Richard Volpe, who spent six years at RBS before joining Nomura in 2015, left last November.
Sources at the Japanese bank say Tyce is sharpening up the macro trading team. Zorzoli is expected to do the same for sales. It's a sweaty summer on the desk.
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