Japanese investment bank Mizuho has hired a 20-year Bank of America Merrill Lynch veteran to head up its sales and trading business in the US, as the firm looks to bolster its equity capital markets business.
Bob Wright has been appointed head of execution sales and trading at Mizuho Americas, reporting to head of the equity division for the region, Darlene Pasquill.
“Bob has the proven ability to successfully orchestrate complex cash equity client trades and he is known for building strong trading teams,” Pasquill commented. “Additionally, his prior expertise as the lead trader for IPO’s and secondary risk blocks will be of immediate benefit to our equity platform.”
Wright joins Mizuho after more than 20 years with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he worked his way up to hold various senior trading positions. Most recently, he was head of US cash trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, having started his career at Merrill Lynch in the 1990s.
“The Equity cash trading business is an important component to our corporate and investment banking offering and supports our strategic plan to grow our Equity capital markets business,” added president and chief executive officer of Mizuho Securities USA, Jerry Rizzieri.
Wright is the latest senior appointment at the Mizuho banking group this summer, after the hire of former Citi executive, Slava Slavinsky, to head up its investment banking business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Slavinsky was formerly head of corporate and investment banking in Russia at Citi, before leaving in 2013 to become chief financial officer at oil company Rosneft.