Nomura continues equity derivatives build-up

Nomura, the Japanese securities firm, has continued its drive to create a strong European equity derivatives department, by unveiling a number of new hires.

Four new directors have joined, including Alain Chanezon, Florian Hillen, Garry Topp and Shilpa Amin. In all, Nomura has hired 24 people during the past four months for its fledgling equity derivatives division, which it established in July by poaching 14 members of Merrill Lynch’s desk, including Joachim Willnow, appointed as the department’s managing director.

Chanezon joins from Société Générale, where he was senior trader of exotic products. At Nomura, he will focus on developing the exotics business. Hillen joins from ABN Amro, where he was head of flow trading for the Dutch bank's equity derivatives group. They will both report to Marco Mocquard, head of trading.

Topp joins from SRI Capital Advisors and will report to Willnow. He has previously worked for Henderson Global Investors, where he was responsible for developing and distributing products in retail and institutional markets. At Nomura, he will focus on fund sales.

Amin joins from Merrill Lynch, where she was legal counsel for both product and platform development, and will continue to work on platform development at Nomura. She will report to Michael Fullalove, head of product development.