Nomura Focuses on Domestic Business
Incoming chief executive of Nomura, Okuda Kentaro, said he wanted to accelerate the firm’s reforms with sources claiming a focused drive on the domestic business.
«I have a sense of crisis over whether today's main players in the financial industry can remain so down the road,» said Okuda, according to a «Reuters» report, during an investor gathering.
«I want to speed up our pace of reform, taking it into account the change that is affecting our customers and financial markets.»
The report cited unnamed sources that said Nomura would sharpen its focus on its domestic retail business as boosting revenue from overseas businesses remained a challenge, despite a recent move onshore that led to a majority-owned securities joint venture in China.
Restructuring
During strategy update in April, Nomura said it would overhaul its wholesale business trucker and shrink low growth, low profitability businesses. The announcement included a $1 billion cost-cutting exercise for its wholesale banking business and a 20 percent reduction in domestic retail branches.
Okuda was just named as the successor to incumbent CEO Koji Nagai who is set to resign, effective April 1 next year. The timing of the move was seen as a surprise not only due to a strong rise in Nomura’s share price but also recent quarterly earnings which posted the highest profits in 17 years after registering the first annual loss in a decade in 2018.
