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Nao Sano
For Nao Sano's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Goldman Sachs is exiting transaction banking in Japan, less than a year after announcing plans to enter the business
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 8, 2024
Goldman Sachs exits Japan transaction banking in sudden reversal
The bank will remain focused on growing its transaction banking operations in the U.S., U.K. and European Union, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
Kathy Matsui in 2019
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2024
Ex-Goldman executive Kathy Matsui says womenomics needs work
Matsui said the effort to increase women in leadership positions is "a matter of trial and error to find the best fit” for companies.
An advertisement for the new Nippon Individual Savings Account in Tokyo in January
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2024
Revamp of tax-free investments in Japan spurs jump in accounts
The creation of the new savings accounts is one of a slew of measures to lure more buyers to the Japanese market.
Nomura Holdings plans a buyback of up to ¥100 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2024
Nomura’s trading overhaul advances as CEO plans buyback
Nomura Holdings plans a buyback of up to ¥100 billion.
The Financial Services Agency ordered SBI Securities to halt part of its business related to initial public offerings through Jan. 18 as a penalty for having manipulated clients' post-IPO share prices.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 13, 2024
Japan’s biggest online brokerage SBI punished for market rigging
The Financial Services Agency on Friday instructed the nation’s biggest online broker SBI Securities not to solicit trade orders from clients for shares on the day they list.
The Tokio Marine & Nichido Building in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2023
Japan penalizes biggest property insurers for price fixing
The Financial Services Agency has issued business improvement orders on the core units of Tokio Marine, MS&AD Insurance and Sompo.
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities hopes to record its highest-ever income from Japan in the current fiscal year, and work together with Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities to overtake Nomura Holdings as the top broker in the country.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 25, 2023
Morgan Stanley expects record Japan revenue as BOJ fuels trading
Shift in the nation's monetary policy could spur more client activity, says the CEO of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities.
Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda in Tokyo in May
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023
Nomura eyes extra $100 million wholesale banking cost cuts
CEO Kentaro Okuda said that ensuring the recovery of Nomura's macro products business, where it has a high market share, is an important issues.
A resurgence in market activity has already helped to boost earnings at Barclays’ Japanese securities arm this year, which is likely to surpass 2022’s record profit of ¥15.1 billion.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2023
Barclays expects bumper Japan profit amid struggles elsewhere
The British bank is expecting another year of record profit in Japan on the back of the country’s debt and rates market trading resurgence.
Tokyo-based Luup controls more than 90% of the country’s shared e-scooter market in terms of ride mileage.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 13, 2023
E-scooter startup wins over Japanese regulators who confounded Uber
Tokyo-based Luup controls more than 90% of the country’s shared e-scooter market in terms of ride mileage, based on government-compiled data.
The Financial Services Agency said in its annual policy guidance that overseas real estate is among the credit risks to watch this year and that it will assess major banks' "situation of loans” made in this sector.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2023
Japan regulator to evaluate banks’ commercial property exposure
Commercial real estate has become one of the highest-profile asset classes hit by rapid rate hikes.
Nomura Holdings Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
Nomura shares tumble most in two years after profit miss
The stock dropped as much as 8.5% on Wednesday morning, the biggest daily decline since March 2021.
Commuters in Tokyo in March. Japanese women are paid on average around 67% the salaries of men, according to a report based on around 2,000 firms’ financial statements, compiled by advisory firm Willis Towers Watson and others this month.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2023
Investors see need for more gender pay data in Japan
Some firms have disclosed pay gaps according to different job levels, but most are revealing the minimum amount of information necessary.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2023
Mizuho on U.S. hiring spree with top 10 underwriting goal in sight
The Japanese bank’s U.S. unit plans to recruit more than 100 people for its investment banking and trading business by the end of March next year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2023
Nomura slashes profit targets across board, plans major review
The moves underscore the challenges for Nomura leadership as rate hikes and geopolitical tensions dampen investor sentiment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2023
Nomura profit falls for third straight year under CEO Kentaro Okuda
Muted client sentiment and lackluster deal-making weighed on revenue at the Japanese brokerage while its overseas operations have now lost money in 10 out of the past 12 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2023
Citi's Japan clients bet on U.S. and Aussie dollars as Ueda cools BOJ bets
Clients have shifted bets on changes to the Bank of Japan’s ultraeasy policy to as late as the second half of next year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2023
Credit Suisse AT1 bond writeoff hands $1 billion loss to Japan investors
It’s "regrettable” that the fallout from Credit Suisse’s woes affected investors in Japan, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 13, 2023
Mizuho warned over setting low IPO prices in blow to issuers
The warning suggests the government is getting more serious about removing what it sees as obstacles to its plan to turbocharge Japan’s startup ecosystem.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2023
Japan’s Dai-ichi Life turns $260 billion portfolio toward JGBs
Dai-ichi was among the biggest holders of foreign bonds as a result of the BOJ’s decadelong stimulus drive, but now is increasing investments in superlong government bonds.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world