Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has formed an investment-banking group in the United States, part of a push to expand its mergers advisory business even as competitors from Nomura Holdings Inc. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. move to curtail costs.
The Tokyo-based bank's brokerage unit hired Randy Gelber from Barclays Plc to lead the group starting Monday, said Yoshihiko Shimizu, chief executive officer of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
It's the first time the firm will have a team that will originate deals in the Americas, he said. The bank will hire fewer than 10 senior bankers from competitors in coming months to build the team, Executive Managing Director Taneki Ono said in an email message.