Simon Flint & team Nomura The buy side says: “I value the honesty of Simon’s calls.”
Seizing the top spot in this new sector is the five-strong Nomura squad captained by Simon Flint, who also guides the No. 3 team in Currency & Foreign Exchange. Flint, 41, “doesn’t push his ideas too hard, yet clearly expresses his level of conviction,” cheers one backer. The team members are headquartered in Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney. They’re concerned with global issues, such as the risk of further weakness in Europe, but also track more-local matters. “The greatest sensitivity to developments in core markets would be in those countries with small, open economies and a good deal of openness in the financial sector,” notably, Australia, Singapore and South Korea, Flint says. Each of the swap curves for these countries’ currencies has strong relationships with the dollar swap curve, he says, noting that the Australia-U.S. spread compression should be a good trade over the medium term. “This is supported by the fact that we see the moderate growth outlook for Australia and the continued search for high-quality sovereign assets from investors underpinning demand for Australian paper.” Flint joined the firm in 2008 from Merrill Lynch, where he was head of forex strategy. He earned a master’s in economics from Cambridge University. — Carolyn Koo
