Nomura, the Japanese banking giant, has appointed Jonathan Lewis as chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa, taking on the role vacated earlier in the year by Jeremy Bennett.

Nomura, the Japanese banking giant, has appointed Jonathan Lewis as chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa, subject to regulatory approval. Since joining the bank in 2008, Lewis has held various senior positions including the past three years based in Tokyo as co-deputy chief financial officer at Nomura Holdings. Lewis takes up the role vacated earlier this year by Jeremy Bennett, who had been CEO for 18 months.

“Nomura is committed to building a thriving and stable business across EMEA, and Jonathan will be assisted by a strong regional management team in delivering this goal,” Atsushi Yoshikawa, president and group CEO, Nomura Holdings, said.

Lewis was appointed a senior managing director of Nomura in April 2011. His previous roles at Nomura included chief financial officer for the wholesale division and CFO, EMEA. From 1996 to 2008, he worked for Bear Stearns International, where he was a senior managing director in Finance. Previously, he worked for PwC in both New York and London having qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte.