Nomura shuffles leadership in trading units after second exit in nine months
Nomura Holdings is shuffling the top leaders within its currencies and emerging markets trading business following the departure of the unit's co-head Nagaraj Pangal, the second boss to exit the division in just nine months.
Pangal had been helping lead the business since 2023 alongside Kevin Connors, who left in September. David Leigh, who recently joined the Japanese bank from Deutsche Bank to replace Connors, will continue to head the business, according to a memo to staff.
The broader FX and EM division has had a strong start to the year, with revenues climbing 60% from the same period in 2024, according to a separate memo. Still, the business has been suffering from a series of high-profile exits, including the departure of Connors, who Nomura had brought on in 2021 to help rebuild the business.
As of January, at least eight traders had left the currency options team or gone on leave in the prior 12 months, leaving just a handful still trading across New York and London.
"The global FX and emerging markets business is a critical pillar of our global markets strategy,' Rig Karkhanis, Nomura's head of global markets, said in one of the memos. "We have built market leading franchises across several products, and continue to actively invest in this space.'
As part of the changes announced Tuesday, the lender said it promoted Hoe Lon Leng and Andy Law to co-heads of the business for Asia ex-Japan. Moti Baba, a nine-year Nomura veteran, will assume a new role as head of FX options trading for that region. Nomura also hired Barclays' Gokay Gecili to oversee currencies and emerging markets trading for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions.
Pangal, for his part, is set to join a hedge fund, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing personnel. Pangal, who declined to comment, previously worked at Royal Bank of Scotland and joined Nomura in 2014.
A representative for Nomura confirmed the contents of the memos but declined to comment further.
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