Nomura Holdings is aiming for an additional $100 million in cost reductions in its wholesale banking division, as Japan’s largest brokerage seeks to lift its performance.
The progress of this key division toward its earnings targets is "significantly behind,” CEO Kentaro Okuda said in a presentation at the firm’s annual investment forum. The segment, which houses Nomura’s trading and investment banking operations, is seeing business slow abroad although its performance in Japan is robust, he said.
Okuda is trying to revitalize Nomura after profit fell in his first three years in office, weighed by overseas losses. The company has taken a slew of steps to improve results abroad, from expanding in the $1.6 trillion global private lending market to hiring traders in the Middle East while cutting jobs in China.