People: Mizuho trader exodus, Citi AI head departs, and more

Latest job changes across the industry

Asif Godall, head of markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Mizuho, will leave the bank on May 1 after seven years. During his time at Mizuho, Godall helped oversee the launch of a securitisation and structured finance business within the corporate and investment banking division.

The bank will announce details of the leadership transition in due course.

Godall joined Mizuho after three years at hedge fund Polus Capital Management, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he spent 17 years at HSBC in various trading roles across asset classes, latterly as global head of traded credit.

His departure comes after Mizuho’s co-heads of credit trading Hardeep Bariana and Aristo Vounakis also left in March. 

Last September, Vikram Dadlani left Deutsche Bank to become head of credit trading for Emea.

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Citi’s global head of AI, Shobhit Varshney, has left the bank after just six months, citing personal reasons. Varshney was hired from IBM Consulting to develop AI capabilities. 

Elsewhere, Anissa Dhouibi has left her role as global head of equities quantitative analysis at Citi after six years. She announced in a LinkedIn post that she will be taking up a new position at hedge fund Millennium Management this summer.

Citi has also named Lee Smallwood as chief operating officer of its markets division. Smallwood has held multiple roles in the markets division at Citi, most recently as head of innovation and investments, where he led work on data‑driven platforms, AI initiatives and strategic investments.

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Drouet: new role at Flow Traders

Frank Drouet has joined non-bank market-maker Flow Traders as chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region. A 30-year veteran of Societe Generale, who previously headed the French bank’s global markets division, Drouet was most recently deputy head of global markets for Credit Agricole corporate and investment bank – a position he left in 2023 after two years in the role. Since then he has worked as a private consultant. 

Drouet joined SG in 1989 as an equity derivatives trader based in Tokyo. After spells in Switzerland and France, he headed to Hong Kong in 1997 to run the region’s equity derivatives operations. A series of promotions saw him lead the global volatility trading business, and run global markets for Asia-Pacific. In 2016 he was appointed global markets head and relocated to Paris. Drouet left the SG in 2019 in a broad overhaul of the bank’s markets business. 

Drouet will oversee trading and technology functions at Flow Traders as part of a strategic expansion in the region across both traditional finance and digital asset markets. 

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Frederik ten Veen has left his position as chief risk officer at ABN Amro’s clearing bank to join multi-strategy investment firm Maven Securities as chief operating officer. At Maven, ten Veen will oversee global operations, with a focus on risk, governance and operational efficiency.

He will join the business in early August, reporting to the group board.

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ING has hired Joseph Kerkor as head of emerging markets credit trading for Emea. He joins from Barclays, where he was an executive director in emerging markets credit trading in London. Prior to Barclays, Kerkor was head of emerging market credit trading at BNP Paribas, with an Emea focus, and previously held roles in emerging markets credit trading at Goldman Sachs.

He will focus on regions including central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey and South Africa. 

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Drury: joins L&G

UK insurance and pension giant Legal & General has named Nigel Drury as chief risk officer of its asset management division, subject to regulatory approval. Drury will oversee risk management, including risk and governance frameworks, investment risk oversight and compliance. He will join the groupwide risk leadership team. 

Over a 30-year career in risk management, Drury has previously served as a CRO at Schroders, as well as holding roles at JP Morgan, ABN Amro and RBS. He will take up his new position on May 18, reporting to L&G group CRO Chris Knight and chief executive officer Eric Adler. 

L&G also recently appointed Emiel den Heiligenberg as chief investment officer for L&G’s asset management division. Den Heiligenberg previously led the firm’s multi-asset business.

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Toby Baker, head of foreign exchange trading at asset manager T Rowe Price, has retired. Baker joined the FX desk 25 years ago, having previously held roles at Daiwa Asset Management and Robert Fleming & Co, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

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Goldman Sachs has added Archana Vemulapalli as global head of AI product management and strategic relations, based in New York. She will focus on developing the bank’s AI offering across divisions, and engage with AI application providers.

Vemulapalli joins from semiconductor firm AMD, where she worked in AI strategy. She has also held roles at Amazon Web Services and IBM.

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Law firm Fieldfisher has named Emma Dwyer as head of its derivatives team. She joined as a partner in the derivatives and structured finance team in 2024, focusing on commodities, credit, equity and FX. Dwyer previously spent 12 years as a partner at Allen & Overy. Her areas of expertise are derivatives regulation and market infrastructure related to clearing, margin and exchange trading.

Fieldfisher has also named Emma Spiers and Robin Spender as co-heads of the financial markets and products team. Spiers is a partner in the derivatives team, with experience advising investment banks and hedge funds on trading documentation, structured trades and regulatory issues relating to derivatives. Spender is also a partner specialising in venture debt and growth capital, corporate lending, acquisition finance, real estate finance, and workouts and restructuring.

The pair replace previous co-heads, Philip Abbott and Guy Usher.

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Woodcock: returns to SEC

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed David Woodcock as director of the division of enforcement, effective from May 4. He is currently a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, serving as chair of the firm’s securities enforcement practice group. Woodcock worked for the SEC between 2011 and 2015 as a regional office director.

He succeeds Sam Waldon, who became acting director of enforcement after the resignation of Margaret Ryan in March. Ryan had only held the post for six months.

Woodcock’s appointment comes as the SEC reports a decline in the number of enforcement actions filed by the agency. New actions totalled 456 in the year to September 30, 2025, a sharp drop from 784 just two years previously. US regulatory agencies are adjusting to widespread job losses under the Trump administration, which has committed to cutting federal spending. 

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The Bank for International Settlements has extended John Williams’s term as chair of its markets committee for three years. Williams is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and was first appointed for a three-year term in 2023 to succeed Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

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Michaud: EBA chair

The European Banking Authority has named François-Louis Michaud as its new chair. His term of office runs for five years and can be extended once. Michaud has been serving as EBA executive director since September 2020. He replaces José Manuel Campa, who announced last year that he would be stepping down from the position in January. Campa had led the authority since March 2019, and his term was renewed in February 2024.

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The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has named Shawn Khani as director of the division of resolutions and receiverships, where he has served as acting director overseeing strategic resolution readiness planning. He previously worked in the private sector in fixed income and structured product trading roles.

Trey Maust has been appointed as the FDIC’s chief innovation officer. He most recently served as an executive chairman of Lewis & Clark Bank.

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The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has promoted Lucas West to head of advocacy, reporting to Joe Seidel. He will serve as senior government affairs officer and lead Sifma’s advocacy efforts within the US federal government. He will also sit on its management and operating committees. West joined the trade body in 2023 as managing director of advocacy, after a stint as a policy adviser in US Congress.

Additional reporting by Joe Parsons; editing by Alex Krohn