Nomura Holdings Inc. has hired five traders to beef up its emerging markets trading desk with a focus on the Middle East, as Japan’s biggest brokerage seeks to revive profitability.
(Bloomberg) — Nomura Holdings Inc. has hired five traders to beef up its emerging markets trading desk with a focus on the Middle East, as Japan’s biggest brokerage seeks to revive profitability.
The firm appointed Abdulrahman Juma as head of macro sales for financial institutions and Anthony Dariane as head of macro sales for sovereign wealth funds and central banks, according to people familiar with the matter. Both previously worked at Credit Agricole SA.
Elsewhere, Talal Iliya will join Nomura from Deutsche Bank AG to lead solution sales. All three traders will be based in Dubai, the region’s main business hub, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is private.
In London, Amin Kirdar will become head of EM Credit Sales and Mouloud Ameni will lead EM Credit Trading. Both are joining from Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and have previously worked at the Tokyo-based firm, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Representatives for Nomura, Jefferies and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Representatives for Credit Agricole didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The appointments are part of Nomura’s efforts to revive its emerging-market flow-credit desk, a business the brokerage retreated from in 2019 and then again in 2021. The unit is back in focus as Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda explores ways to reverse a decline in profit and the brokerage is seeking to hire traders, salespeople and analysts.
In the Middle East, deal activity has surged over the past year or so. Corporations across the region have sold more bonds this year, compared with other emerging-market nations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To help meet demand, Rany Moubarak, Nomura’s co-head of global markets structuring for Asia outside Japan, relocated to Dubai earlier this year to become head of global markets for the Middle East and Africa.
Wall Street banks’ emerging-market credit-trading desks buy and sell bonds and derivatives tied to corporations in developing economies. The biggest players — including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — profited from the geopolitical turmoil triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, generating the most revenue in at least six years as they pounced on cheap company debt, according to data from Vali Analytics Ltd.
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