David Nichols has joined Standard Chartered as head of cash equity sales for Hong Kong, the bank said in a release Monday.
This is a newly created role and the hire underscores Standard Chartered’s continued build-out of its equities business in the region, which started in earnest after the UK-headquartered bank acquired Cazenove’s Asia equities business in January 2009.
Nichols joins from Nomura, where he was global co-head of equity sales for Asia-Pacific. He has been with the Japanese bank and its predecessor, Lehman Brothers, since September 2006, and before that he was head of generalist sales at Deutsche Bank, where he worked for just over five years.
He has also worked in equity sales at ING Barings in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
In total, he brings more than 13 years of sales experience to his new employer. Nichols will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Tim Andrew, Standard Chartered’s global head of cash equities.
Commenting on the hire, Andrew said that Nichols’ appointment reflects the bank’s commitment to strengthen its equities capabilities to serve the growing needs of its clients.
The bank did not break out the income from equities in last week’s earnings report, but said that it is seeing “good progress on the investment in [its] equities business with a strong performance in equity derivatives.” Income from commodities and equities combined rose 4% in the six months to June, driven by strong client flows.
As part of its ongoing investment into the equities franchise, the emerging markets-focused bank has recently also hired Min Park as global head of equity derivatives and convertibles sales, Mike Garcia as head of Hong Kong equities sales trading, and Jamie White as a director of equities sales trading.
Park joined in mid-July and will be based in Hong Kong. He was most recently with Credit Suisse, where he was head of equity derivatives and convertible bond sales for Asia-Pacific.
Garcia and White both joined from Barclays, where they held the same roles as they now have at Standard Chartered. They started their new jobs in early July.
