In an attempt to get its overseas operations back to profit sustainability, Nomura Holdings Inc. will lay off around 100 employees in its European business, according to a report from Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the matter.
The majority of job cuts will be for rates and credit traders in the firm’s London-based Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division, the source said, although the specific numbers are not yet final.
In a presentation this Thursday, Co-Chief Operating Officer Kentaro Okuda said that the broker plans to cut costs in its so-called flow businesses in the EMEA region by 50 percent. In addition, under the cost reduction plan, the company also intends to exit high-Yield bond trading in both the EMEA and the Americas.
The presentation today also showed that the Japanese company would “downscale” is G10 FX, emerging markets and flow credit business. It also seeks to “optimize” its G10 rates business, the report from Bloomberg stated.
Rumors Swirl Over Nomura Job Cuts as Poor Financial Results Continue
Reports about potential layoffs at Nomura have been circling for months. As Finance Magnates reported towards the end of March, the largest brokerage in Japan is expected to cut jobs in both of its European and American businesses.
At the time, around 100 jobs were expected to be cut between its European and American businesses. However, today’s report suggests that this cut will be solely dedicated to Nomura’s European operations.
Again, this is not a surprise, as in an earlier interview with the news outlet in December, the CEO of Nomura, Koji Nagai, highlighted that the three thousand staff count in Europe was probably too big.
Rumors of the jobs cuts began to surface following repeated poor performance at the firm. As Finance Magnates reported, during its third quarter, Nomura achieved a net income loss of ¥95.3 billion ($876.64 million). This is a notable drop, considering the same quarter in 2017 had a profit of ¥88 billion. It’s also below market expectations, as analysts surveyed by Reuters expected an average profit estimate of ¥30.9 billion.
The poor performance was mostly thanks to a large write off in its wholesale division, which includes Nomura’s brokerage and investment bank. During the third quarter, the unit posted the second biggest loss for the company, both on a quarterly and yearly comparison, behind its asset management division.
