SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. have increased their hiring targets for university graduates to bolster retail brokerage operations as stocks rally.
SMBC Nikko recruited 460 graduates to start in April, 50 more than earlier planned, spokesman Tadataka Ishida said Wednesday. Daiwa, Japan's second-biggest brokerage, raised its target by 23 percent to 617, spokeswoman Misato Kinoshita said.
Profits at securities firms have surged since Shinzo Abe became prime minister last December and ushered in policies that made Japanese equities the best performers in the developed world. Households face an erosion in the value of their cash savings if Abe achieves his goal of sparking inflation, increasing the attractiveness of investing in stocks.