SchiffmanÆs previous role at Lehman Brothers was head of investment banking, Asia ex-Japan. His new role, which has Asia-Pacific as its scope, means that Australia will be an additional responsibility. Toshiyasu Iiyama has been given the position of co-head of Asia-Pacific investment banking.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Christian Meissner and William Vereker have been appointed heads of investment banking and Yoshiyuki Numano has become co-head of investment banking.
The Japanese bank also announced senior appointments for its Asia-Pacific fixed-income business. Thomas Siegmund and Jai Rajpal have been appointed joint heads of fixed income Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan.
Rajpal was previously the head of fixed income for Singapore and Southeast Asia, while Siegmund was the head of liquid markets Asia-Pacific for Lehman Brothers. Rajpal will remain in Singapore and Siegmund will leave Tokyo to work in Hong Kong. Both Siegmund and Rajpal will report to Zenji Nakamura, the head of global fixed income.
NomuraÆs latest appointments confirm that the Japanese firm is keen to retain the employees it acquired as part of its takeover of Lehman Brothers business in Asia-Pacific and parts of the business in Europe and the Middle East. It is creating senior positions for key staff alongside its own employees.
In a ratings downgrade issued yesterday, Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on long-term issuer default ratings for Nomura Holdings and Nomura Securities from stable to negative, highlighting that Nomura Holdings has posted net losses in four out of the last five quarters. ôWith the large losses again in H1FYE09, together with the poor business climate, integration costs of businesses acquired from the former Lehman Brothers, and potential losses on positions related to Iceland and Fortress Investments, Fitch believes [Nomura HoldingÆs] profitability and therefore capitalisation will remain under pressure,ö commented Fitch.
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