Nomura Holdings Inc. needs to boost the competitiveness of its retail business, analysts say, after the segment posted lower profit than smaller rival Daiwa Securities Group Inc. for the first time in more than a decade.

Nomura’s retail division must shift more aggressively into wealth management to make it more resilient to market turbulence, according to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Japan’s biggest brokerage should also step up its efforts in areas like digitalization, Morningstar Inc. says.

Nomura is still only halfway there with wealth management, said Hideyasu Ban, an analyst at Jefferies in Tokyo. "It has to move faster.”