Early this month, a 55-year-old manager at the failed Yamaichi Securities Co. had a job interview with Merrill Lynch, a major U.S. brokerage that has launched a new campaign to penetrate the Japanese market.
The interview session proceeded cordially, with the discussion focusing mainly on his family and housing conditions. Still, the broker is worried. "Even if I am hired (by Merrill Lynch), I have no idea what will happen to me," he said.
Merrill Lynch announced in mid-February that it will set up a new securities unit here to target individual investors in Japan by acquiring about 2,000 workers and 31 outlets from Yamaichi in the process. The broker, who has worked at one of Yamaichi's Kanto region branches, came to Tokyo for the job interview. Merrill Lynch paid for his travel expenses, and Japanese, not English, was the language used on application forms and in the interview.