Nomura appoints new global head of FX

Nomura has appointed Jai Rajpal as senior managing director and global head of foreign exchange, the Japanese bank announced today.

Based in London, Rajpal will report locally to Steve Ashley, senior managing director and global head of fixed income. Rajpal joined Nomura in 2008 as joint head of fixed income for Asia ex-Japan and was promoted to sole head in March 2010, relocating at that point from Hong Kong to Singapore.

“Under Jai’s leadership, Nomura has established a robust and profitable fixed-income platform in the region. In his new role, he will bring his expertise as a business builder to steer the next phase of growth for the bank’s FX business,” said Nomura in a statement.

The appointment comes just over a year after Richard Gladwin, Nomura’s previous head of FX, quit the bank in August 2011. Since then, the FX business has fallen under the broader remit of Ashley, who became head of global macro products – a new division encompassing both FX and rates – in mid-2011, before being promoted to global head of fixed income in January this year.

“We have made tremendous progress in building our global FX business over the past few years. With Jai’s extensive experience across all major FX markets, both in his recent role and in his past career, we look forward to strengthening our competitive position,” says Ashley.

With Jai’s extensive experience across all major FX markets, we look forward to strengthening our competitive position

Prior to joining Nomura in 2008, Rajpal had been head of fixed income for Singapore and South-east Asia at Lehman Brothers since 2007, and before that spent 13 years at Deutsche Bank, progressing to become global head of emerging markets FX trading.