Prime Highlights
- Komori chairs the industrials group while co-heading Japan Investment Banking; Gao and Toda run daily operations.
- The reshuffle supports BofA’s push to strengthen coverage amid a global dealmaking rebound.
Key Facts
- BofA is restructuring investment banking leadership across global markets.
- It added nine U.S. bankers earlier this year for middle-market growth.
Background
A leadership reshuffle at Bank of America has placed Yuta Komori in charge of Asia Pacific Global Industrials Investment Banking (GIG) as chair, with Meng Gao and Masashi Toda stepping in as co-heads to run the group day-to-day, an internal memo showed.
Komori’s new mandate involves steering strategy for the unit and helping build out the bank’s industrials presence in the region. He keeps his existing position as co-head of Japan Investment Banking alongside the added responsibility.
The two incoming co-heads, Gao and Toda, will focus on scaling the industrials business throughout Asia Pacific. Their work will involve coordinating with teams across countries, sectors and products to deepen client relationships and link them into the bank’s wider global network.
The leadership change is the latest in a series of moves by Bank of America to reshape its investment banking ranks across major markets, as the firm positions itself to capture a pickup in global deal activity and sharpen its client coverage. A representative for the bank declined to comment when approached.
Earlier in the year, the bank brought on nine senior bankers in the United States as part of an effort to grow its regional investment banking presence and tap rising demand from mid-sized companies.
Under the new reporting lines, Komori answers to Peter Guenthardt, who heads Asia Pacific Global Corporate and Investment Banking. Gao and Toda will report to Guenthardt regionally, with a dual reporting line to Loli Wu and Justin Anstee, who jointly lead Global Industrials Investment Banking worldwide.
Gao joined Bank of America in 2015 and has since held a senior position within its China Investment Banking division. Toda, meanwhile, will hold onto his existing roles heading Japan Industrials and Natural Resources & Energy Transition Investment Banking, in addition to serving as Japan’s Investment Banking Strategy officer.
