A London trader single-handedly rebuilt his team after a summer exodus

If you're an emerging markets (EM) trader at a bank in London and various members of your team move on, it's standard practice to reach out to the internal talent acquisition team for help. Or maybe a headhunter. Or maybe you can find some new team members yourself. 

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Shahzad Amir is thought to have done it himself at Japanese bank SMBC in London. This summer, five members of SMBC's London emerging markets team left. Amir has since recruited six new ones. Headhunters say he has become quietly known as, "The lifter of Liverpool Street."

Amir's personally curated recruits are understood to include: Kavit Jagia, an emerging markets credit trader from ING; Bader Barghouti from Mizuho; Sarah Smadja from BancTrust; Christine Dabaghy from Novate Global Markets; Reja Azad (a junior). Ben Cooper from Bank of America, Agnes Valencic from SocGen and Georgio Gregoriou, a senior trader from RBC, are thought to be joining too but are not Amir's recruits.

Amir didn't respond to a request to comment for this article, and SMBC declined to comment. 

Amir's diligent hiring is thought to have coincided with a promotion. It's understood that he will imminently become head of CEEMEA sales. 

SMBC Nikko has a tie-up with Jefferies and is planning a joint venture from January 2027. It's not clear what this will mean for jobs and hiring in the global markets team in the future, but if anyone needs to find new traders, Amir can seemingly assist.

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