Nomura's FX exodus follows exit of popular boss: "A phenomenal individual"

efinancialcareers.com:

Nomura's FX business is not what it was. Bloomberg reported this week that eight people have left and noted that the Japanese bank hired David Leigh from Deutsche Bank to find some replacements. 

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By our reckoning, Nomura has in fact lost at least nine people in FX. Many left in the second half of last year; some have left in 2025.

The most recent defector, Radwan El Chab, left for Citadel this month. El Chab, who joined from Deutsche Bank in 2023, had barely been at Nomura 18 months. He's joined Citadel's London office. 

He follows a long line of Nomura's other FX traders out the door. Sarah Sparke, a senior UK-based FX saleswoman, went to BNY in June. Finlay Hind went to Morgan Stanley in August. Ashvin Parkash, Nomura's Singapore-based the head of global markets trading for Asia, went to BNY in December. Gunnar Tyler-Henning left his job on Nomura's FX options desk for hedge fund Walleye in November. 

Another four people are understood to have left a Nomura desk run by Yakeen Mirchandani, who focuses on emerging markets. They included Joe Franklin, Neil Gear, Saad Mjabber and David Thursfield. The FCA register says Franklin left on December 6th; Gear left on November 12th; Mjabber left in late October and Thursfield went in August. Mirchandani, who insiders say is a «nice guy» is understood to be frantically looking for replacements. 

What's up with Nomura's FX business? Nomura declined to comment for this article, but it's understood that the recent exits aren't down to profitability (the desk reportedly made $50m from pre-election trades alone), but to management. Specifically, Kevin Connors, the bank's former co-global head of FX, left in September. Nomura