JPMorgan Chase is hiring Nomura Holdings' international head of AI strategy, adding another senior specialist to the bench the largest US bank has been quietly building.
Tahir Zafar, based in Singapore, joined Nomura in late 2023 and was promoted to lead its international AI strategy in March 2025. He held that role for roughly four months before JPMorgan came along. He is expected to start around July, according to Bloomberg. The hire fits a pattern CEO Jamie Dimon has telegraphed openly: AI is not a side project at JPMorgan, it is an institutional priority with a headcount strategy behind it.
The more interesting signal here is not that JPMorgan is hiring — it is where the hire is coming from. For years, big banks framed their AI talent problem as competing against Google, Meta, and a wave of well-funded startups. Poaching a strategy chief from a rival financial institution suggests something has shifted: Wall Street has now built enough in-house AI expertise to become its own recruiting market. Banks are not just chasing tech company alumni anymore; they are chasing each other.
A promotion in March and a departure by July says something about how fast senior AI roles turn over when a bigger institution decides it wants you.