As Brexit approaches nervous Japanese banks and financial services firms have been busy cementing footholds on mainland Europe. Nomura is now prepared.

Japan’s largest brokerage Nomura currently employs more than 2,000 staff in its London base. In preparation for Britain's withdrawal from the E.U. Nomura has now received a securities trading license for its new Frankfurt-based unit the bank said in a media statement.

The German entity Nomura Financial Products Europe GmbH, will be staffed by personnel from London and local hires. However despite the threat of job losses in London less than 100 staff are expected to move from the U.K. to Frankfurt a Nomura spokeswoman told financial services careers website «efinancialcareers».

German Gain

Other Japanese banks in the U.K. are readying their Brexit strategies. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp plans to set up banking and securities subsidiaries in Frankfurt by March 2019. Daiwa Securities Group is also speeding up work to create a subsidiary in the German city. Megabank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group chose Amsterdam as its European Union investment banking base.

While the selection of places for their business footholds in Europe after Brexit differs from company to company, Japanese financial institutions mostly plan to keep the control functions overseeing their broader European operations in the United Kingdom.