Nomura Holdings Inc. dismissed 28 sales and trading staff in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The cuts came in the global markets division, which includes equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel.
Despite a recent rise in interest rates, volatility in fixed-income markets has remained low, putting pressure on trading revenue at securities firms worldwide. Net revenue at Nomura’s global markets division fell about 5 per cent in the fiscal year ended March.
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The move contrasts with a push by Japan’s biggest brokerage to bulk up its investment-banking presence in the US chief executive officer Koji Nagai said late last year that he wants to shed Nomura’s underdog status in investment banking in the country, and the firm has been hiring bankers to boost its advisory and underwriting business there.
Nomura plans to work on reducing costs abroad while investing in profitable areas, co-chief operating officer Toshio Morita said at an annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
Laura Unger, a former commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission who was appointed outside director at the meeting, told shareholders that she will give an American perspective on Nomura’s expansion abroad. The Tokyo-based firm had 2,362 employees in the Americas as of March, up from 2,314 a year earlier.
Jennifer Will, a spokeswoman for Nomura in New York, declined to comment on the cuts.
