Nomura Holdings plans to hire dozens of private bankers in Hong Kong and Singapore, in a bid to extend its wealth management push from Japan and mainland China to the rest of Asia.
The Tokyo-based firm, which has already outlined aggressive plans for China, aims to grow the assets it manages from those two hubs by five times to US$50 billion (S$67.4 billion) by March 2026, said Mr Yuji Hibino, a senior managing director in charge of the business for Asia excluding Japan. He wants to almost double the number of relationship managers to 100 in three years, from 57 as of last month.
"Asia has bigger potential for future growth compared to Japan," he said in an interview in Singapore. "We would like to look for more opportunities."
Japan's biggest brokerage is chasing the growing ranks of rich Asians to boost its wealth operation, which has dodged the waves of job cuts undertaken to restore profitability at its overseas securities business.
The bank started hiring for the Asia wealth business last year with 10 net additions, Mr Hibino said. "We also look at inorganic opportunities," he added, while saying that the company is not currently in any talks about acquisitions.
Nomura manages about US$10 billion in Asia excluding Japan. The 10 largest firms in Asia each oversees more than US$50 billion, according to data compiled by Asian Private Banker that excludes Chinese firms operating on the mainland.
Mr Hibino moved to Singapore last year from Tokyo, where he was a senior managing director of the bank's Japan wealth business.
He plans to use Nomura's strength from the global markets and investment banking divisions to serve wealthy clients, he said.
"We would be in a good position to be able to connect our Asian clients to the opportunities that are available in Japan because of our great network," Mr Hibino said.
The brokerage is also looking to serve Japanese clients living abroad, he added.
Outside of Japan, Nomura's Asia wealth business is currently concentrated in Hong Kong and Singapore, from where the bank serves markets including Australia, South-east Asia and Greater China.
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