Nomura Holdings is pushing deeper into bullion trading amid a wave of investor interest, with former Standard Chartered precious metals trader Aleksander Ganchev joining to lead its efforts.

It¡¯s the first in a series of hires the firm plans to make in the coming months, David Leigh, head of foreign exchange and emerging markets at Nomura, said in an interview. The Japanese bank¡¯s currency trading desk has been active in gold options trading for over two decades, and is now looking to start trading gold and silver futures, possibly followed by silver options at a later date.

Gold¡¯s multiyear rally has smashed records and drawn significant investor interest, from hedge funds to central banks. Nomura is the latest in a number of banks ¡ª including Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank ¡ª seeking to meet that need by expanding their precious metals offerings.

¡°There¡¯s been a huge broadening of interest in precious metals,¡± said Leigh, who joined from Deutsche Bank in 2024. ¡°We have a lot of clients today that are dealing in precious metals. It¡¯s natural for us to look at expanding what we offer in response to that.¡±

While hundreds of billions of dollars of gold change hands every week in the main hub of London ¡ª where Ganchev will be based ¡ª it¡¯s dominated by a relatively small number of banks and market makers. Many traders and analysts say that the market is now showing signs of being strained, as rising prices and volatility pressure credit limits between market participants, reducing liquidity.

Gold prices have more than doubled over the past two years, surging to an all-time high of almost $5,600 an ounce in late January.

For clients who wish to trade the same volume of metal as they did before, it requires ¡°obviously a lot more dollars now than it did two years ago,¡± Leigh said. Risk appetite at market makers doesn¡¯t grow linearly with price, he said, and that need for capacity is an opportunity for the bank.

Demand for gold has been supported by persistent geopolitical and trade tensions, lower interest rates and concerns about the Federal Reserve¡¯s independence. Silver has also been on a wild ride, and the dramatic volatility is drawing traders on the hunt for profits, alongside retail investors.

For Nomura, the push into precious metals ¡°is not driven by gold¡¯s price action in the last three months, it¡¯s driven by a sustained evolution of your typical FX client,¡± Leigh said. ¡°Precious metals are going to continue to be an interesting part of the asset universe.¡±