John Marshall Nicholson () is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

investment banker.

Career

Nicholson worked at

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

and

J.P. Morgan JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * '' Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Pa ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

before moving to

in 2002 to take up a position as

Credit Suisse First Boston Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) was the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York. The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 1 ...

's Asia-ex-Japan head of

equity capital markets Equity capital markets (ECM) are markets where equity capital is raised, bought and sold by investors and speculators. The major types of equity capital are unlisted equity, listed equity and hybrids, each are traded in different ways. The marke ...

. In 2005, he transferred to the

Macquarie Group Macquarie Group Limited (), more commonly known as Macquarie Bank, is an Australian multinational investment banking and financial services group headquartered in Sydney and listed on the ASX (). Macquarie's investment banking division is Au ...

, where he held the position of head of China equity capital markets; his hiring was part of a large recruitment drive which saw Macquarie poach Hong Kong-based ECM staff from a number of major banks. In January 2007, Nicholson left Macquarie, one of several senior ECM bankers resigning at the time. He joined BOC International as vice-chairman of the investment banking division, one of the first senior foreign executives at any Chinese bank. At BOCI, he served as advisor on a number of major deals, including Rusal's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...

in 2010. Nicholson's strategy after he joined involved a "build out" of the ECM business and the institutional equities franchise. In 2005, two years before he joined, BOCI led no equity offerings at all, and only seven in 2006; in 2008 through 2010, in contrast, it led sixty-five. In February 2012, Nicholson resigned from his post at BOCI. He then became a managing director at China International Capital Corp, the first

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

investment bank in China. He resigned from CICC in June 2014. In March 2015, Nicholson took a new post at

Nomura Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

's Hong Kong office as head of Asia-ex-Japan equity capital markets. As of December 2017 he remained in that position.

Personal life

Nicholson did his bachelor's and master's degree in chemical engineering at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and went on to earn a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the

University of Virginia Darden School of Business The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (branded as the Darden School of Business) is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school offers ...

. He married a

woman in 2003. Nicholson applied to the

Hong Kong Immigration Department The Immigration Department is a disciplined service under the Government of Hong Kong, responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the handover of Hong Kong to China in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained larg ...

for naturalisation as a Chinese citizen; as the

Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China Chinese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, which came int ...

does not permit applicants for naturalisation to retain their former citizenships, he renounced U.S. citizenship on 12 April 2013 at the U.S. Consulate-General in Hong Kong. Nicholson stated that he had chosen to naturalise in order to "make my situation reflect my personal and professional view of my long-term interests". Colleagues suggested his motivations included convenience of travel to

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

in order to visit clients, since only Hong Kong residents of Chinese nationality and not other nationalities are eligible for

Home Return Permit The Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (colloquially referred to as the Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit) is a travel document issued by the Exit and Entry Administration of the People's Republic of China. This ...

Peter Thal Larsen Peter Thal Larsen is a Dutch journalist. Thal Larsen graduated from Bristol University before going on to the London School of Economics. He began working for the ''Financial Times'' in 1999 and moved to the paper's New York City office the follow ...

analysed Nicholson's choice as a career move intended to demonstrate to clients that he saw Hong Kong as his home and was not using it as a stepping-stone to opportunities in London or New York like many other expatriate bankers.

References

External links

Positions of Nicholson, John Marshall
on

David Michael Webb David Michael Webb, MBE (born 29 August 1965) is an activist investor, transparency advocate and public data archivist/analyst. Long based in Hong Kong, he was formerly an investment banker. He maintains a large, open set of highly synthesise ...

's webb-site.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Marshall Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American emigrants to Hong Kong Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Hong Kong financial businesspeople Hong Kong people of American descent Naturalised citizens of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong Former United States citizens University of Virginia Darden School of Business alumni Merrill (company) people JPMorgan Chase employees People with acquired permanent residency of Hong Kong