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Nomura Is Said to Cut 50 London Roles as Trading Chiefs Hit

Nomura Is Said to Cut 50 London Roles as Trading Chiefs Hit

(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. is cutting at least 50 positions in London, including some of its most senior traders, people familiar with the Japanese bank’s plans said.

The cuts affect staff including Omar Ghalloudi, who joined from Citigroup Inc. just last year, and Steven Marshall, who is head of CVA trading, according to the people, who requested anonymity. Nick Oxlade, Manolo Pedrini and Walid Haram, who help oversee different fixed-income trading businesses in London, may also be leaving, the people said.

Japan’s biggest brokerage has often struggled to make money overseas, leading to gyrations in strategy and stop-start expansions abroad. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Nomura dismissed more than two dozen sales and trading staff from its global markets division in the U.S.

Nick Probert, a spokesman for Nomura in London, declined to comment. Oxlade is head of European credit sales, while Pedrini runs rates for the region, according to their LinkedIn profiles. They didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. Haram, head of emerging-market credit trading, declined to comment.

‘Drastic’ Reforms

Chief Executive Officer Koji Nagai said at a shareholder meeting last month that the firm is “in the middle of progressing drastic structural reforms overseas.” The European operation was the worst performer for Nomura last fiscal year, losing 14.7 billion yen ($133 million) before taxes.

The bank, which largely exited European equity operations in 2016, has had persistent problems in its London office. Since October, it has shuttered a proprietary-trading desk after a series of trades went awry and reported a loss of about 14 billion yen tied to Steinhoff International Holdings NV. The firm’s global head of credit, Frederic Jallot, left last month less than a year after he joined.

Nomura may move more than 100 employees from London to Frankfurt in preparation for the U.K.’s exit from the European Union, a person with knowledge with the matter said in March. The firm had 3,057 employees in Europe as of March, down from 3,424 two years earlier.

--With assistance from Stefania Spezzati and Takahiko Hyuga.

To contact the reporters on this story: Donal Griffin in London at dgriffin10@bloomberg.net;Thomas Beardsworth in London at tbeardsworth@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Russell Ward

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