Citigroup hires Nomura, Wells Fargo traders in foreign-exchange business push across Asia

Citigroup has hired seven personnel, including former traders from Nomura International and Wells Fargo, to boost its foreign-exchange business in Asia.

Nicky Lam, formerly of Nomura in Singapore, has joined Citi’s Group-of-10 currency options trading team as director, according to a company statement seen by Bloomberg. Former Wells Fargo and NatWest Markets trader Jonathan Chua has also joined Citi’s FX trading desk as a Singapore dollar trader and will report to director Dany Checrallah.

Meanwhile, HSBC’s former head of global markets corporate sales, Manoj Goel, has been appointed head of corporate FX sales for the Indian sub-continent, the statement said. Cassalynne Lou has joined the Singapore corporate FX sales team, reporting to Galvin Phua, head of markets solutions for Citi’s commercial bank clients.

The flurry of appointments comes after global FX trading soared to an all-time high of US$9.6 trillion a day as volatility picked up on the back of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

Citi Markets reported a 12 per cent rise in fixed-income market during the third quarter, driven by growth in rates, currencies and spread products, among others, the statement said.

Citi also made hires for its institutional foreign-exchange sales business.

Yusuke Aita, formerly of BNP Paribas, has been appointed a director in Tokyo. Renee Gao has joined Citi as director in Hong Kong from HSBC, and Matthew Lim, formerly of UBS, has been named vice-president in Singapore. BLOOMBERG

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