Jefferies has appointed Toru Nakashima, president and group CEO of the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), as a member of its board of directors. A strategic alliance between the two companies has been in place since 2021, and has since expanded in 2023 and 2024.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), a subsidiary of SMFG, recently increased its economic ownership of Jefferies to 10.9%, and expects to increase this to up to 15% on an as-converted and fully diluted basis. This grants the company the ability to nominate a new board member for election; Nakashima’s appointment was approved on 8th August, with his membership effective 12th August.
Nakashima has close to 40 years of industry experience, and joined SMFG as group chief financial officer and chief strategy officer in 2019. He was elected to the board of directors and named deputy president, leading the global corporate banking division, in 2023. In November of the same year, he was appointed president and group CEO at SMFG.
On his appointment, Nakashima said: “We at the SMBC Group are confident this next step in our alliance with Jefferies will greatly strengthen the foundation of our relationship. In the few short years that our strategic alliance has existed, it has already borne meaningful opportunities.
“Personally, I am very enthusiastic about joining the Jefferies Board and helping to support Jefferies’ leadership. I look forward to working closely with the Board, Rich, Brian, and the Jefferies team as we continue to serve all our global clients well into the future.”
Rich Handler, CEO, and Brian Friedman, president of Jefferies, commented: “We are honored to welcome Nakashima-san to our board of directors. All of us at Jefferies look forward to the expansion and strengthening of our strategic alliance with SMBC and we are eager to deploy all our capabilities to bring value to their clients and stakeholders.”
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