Barclays has hired former Garda Capital Partners portfolio manager Yoichi Takemura to strengthen its yen rates trading business as global financial companies compete for talent to capitalize on Japan’s revived $7.1 trillion government bond market.

Takemura joined the U.K. lender Monday as Japan macro trading head, according to an internal memo and confirmed by a spokesperson. He will oversee yen rates and foreign exchange trading in Tokyo, bringing nearly two decades of experience in those operations.

Takemura’s recruitment comes less than a year after he was hired by U.S. hedge fund firm Garda Capital.

"As Japan’s rate divergence from global trends generates volatility and reignites broader investor interest, there is tremendous opportunity in this business,” Yun Zhang, co-head of FIC trading for Asia Pacific, said in the memo.

Japan’s central bank set out last year to normalize its ultraeasy monetary policy, stimulating transactions in Japanese government bonds and making debt trading more profitable. That’s set off a talent war in the financial industry, prompting banks and hedge funds to compete for experienced traders in JGBs and other yen rates products.

Takemura will initially work in Singapore and relocate to Tokyo later this year, according to the memo. He was head of fixed-income trading at JPMorgan Chase before joining Garda Capital, and has also worked at Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

Barclays has also hired Steven Shi, a former Mizuho Financial Group banker, and Takehiro Suzuki, an ex-Deutsche Bank AG employee, since October for yen rates trading, according to a person familiar with the matter. The spokesperson declined to comment.

Tomohiro Mikajiri, who had previously overseen Japan’s macro trading division, will lead a team that trades securitized products and nonyen rates trading, according to the memo.

Barclays’ Japanese investment banking arm posted a record ¥16.5 billion ($106 million) in net profit in 2023, driven by increased client orders to trade yen rate products. It was the third most profitable among global investment banks that closed books in December that year.

The Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate last week to the highest level in 17 years and took a more bullish view on the strength of inflation, fueling expectations for more hikes. The monthly volume of cash JGB transactions between dealers and clients reached record levels in the first half of last year before slipping, data shows.