Steve Ashley has been appointed global head of fixed income and Georges Assi has been appointed deputy global head of fixed income at Nomura, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia yesterday. The memo was signed by Takumi Shibata, chairman and CEO, wholesale division group, and chief operating officer at Nomura.
Ashley, who is based in London, reports directly to Shibata. He joined Nomura in May 2010 as the Japanese bank’s global head of rates, from Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ashley, who has more than 20 years of experience, fills a role made vacant when Tarun Jotwani, Nomura’s former head of global markets, left the bank last week. Jotwani’s role, which encompassed fixed income and equities, has been removed as part of a restructuring in which global markets is being replaced by separately managed fixed income and equities businesses.
In his previous role, Jotwani had also acted as global head of fixed income and that role has now been filled by Ashley. It is understood that Jotwani will not be replaced as his role no longer exists under the new structure. The two co-heads of global equities, Naoki Matsuba and Benoit Savoret, who reported to Jotwani, remain.
Assi previously co-led fixed income in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and was also the global head of credit products.
Jotwani left Nomura on the same day Jesse Bhattal retired from his position as president and CEO of the wholesale division. Bhattal’s responsibilities were assumed on an interim basis by Shibata, who will also determine the strategy to appoint his permanent successor.
Since Bhattal and Jotwani’s departures, there has been speculation as to whether their successors would be Japanese or not, and what that would indicate in terms of the direction of Nomura’s global expansion. One observer notes that Ashley’s appointment reflects that Nomura’s overall strategy remains the same.
