Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.'s securities arm plans to increase the number of employees abroad by 25 percent in the next three years to expand in areas including securitization, trading and investment banking.

SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. is seeking to boost head count overseas, mainly in New York and London, by March 2017 to about 600 from 480, by hiring as well as dispatching employees from Japan, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuya Kubo said in an interview.

The move reflects Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui's efforts to bolster fee income and expand abroad as low interest rates and a declining population hamper lending profitability at home. Kubo singled out securitization as a priority for growth as the market recovers from the U.S. subprime loan crisis that led to the demise of trading houses Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.