Nomura to slash hundreds of investment banking jobs in London
Japan's largest brokerage firm, Nomura, is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in London and across Europe as it lines up to close key investment banking departments, blaming extreme volatility in the global economy, which has put the firm's bottom line under sustained pressure.
"Nomura will close certain businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)," a statement from the company confirmed, as its announced a set of "strategic changes" to its global operations.
Nomura confirmed that around 750 jobs would be lost in a massive withdrawal from its European equity divisions. Equity research, underwriting and derivatives departments will all be affected, while Nomura confirmed its pure trading arm – equities execution – would be safe.
The majority of redundancies will fall in London, which accounts for the majority of Nomura's 3,500-strong EMEA workforce.
Tetsu Ozaki, chief operating officer at Nomura, said:
We are taking decisive action to refine the services we offer to our clients, while continuing to leverage our dominance and unique strengths in Asia, providing tailored solutions to our clients globally and continuing our 90 year legacy of putting clients at the heart of everything we do. This exercise will deliver significant efficiencies and cost savings for Nomura, refocusing the firm’s activities and reallocating resources towards its areas of expertise and most profitable business lines.
More details will be announced on 27 April, when the group publishes its 2015 full year results.