BNP Paribas Securities Services has bolstered its Japanese business with the appointment of a former custody expert at Mizuho Financial Group.
Takeshi Kozu joins the French bank as head of securities services Japan, replacing Laurent Guittonneau who has been relocated to Europe.
Based in Tokyo, Kozu will report to Philippe Benoit, head of securities services Asia-Pacific, and functionally to Nicolas Pillet, general manager of BNP Paribas Tokyo branch.
“His [Kozu] proven track record and deep local knowledge, combined with his securities services expertise, will ensure we continue to grow our business in this important market,” said Beniot.
“We have built a solid franchise in Japan, offering Japanese financial institutions a large spectrum of custody-related services, combined with high touch local client service.”
Kozu joins BNP Paribas from Mizuho’s Trust & Custody Services Bank, a specialised custody bank within Mizuho Group, where he was head of custody client services. He also led the collateral management business for the bank on behalf of their custody clients.
BNP Paribas has made a number of senior appointments to its Asia-Pacific team in recent months. In June, it hired Diana Senanayake from RBC I&TS to lead the securities services team in Singapore, and in March, BNP Paribas hired Citi’s former head of hedge fund sales for Asia-Pacific for its prime brokerage division.