Japanese investment bank Nomura has appointed Norikazu Akedo, head of trading, equities,
Japan, Samuel Ruiz, joint head of equities, EMEA, and former Lehman Brothers COO, EMEA, Benoit Savoret, who was named joint head of global equities earlier this month, to be senior managing directors along with nine other executives.
Nomura introduced the senior managing directors position in November 2009 for key senior managers responsible for group-wide operations as part of an effort to strengthen the company's global leadership team. The new appointments, which will be effective from 1 April, take the total number of senior managing directors at the bank to 105.
The firm has been expanding its equities operations outside Japan over the last six months. In October Nomura appointed Samir Patel and Chris Valli in its US equities operation, as well as two US cash equities heads . In addition, Nomura opened a new equities trading floor in New York and initiated its US cash equities operation earlier the same month.