Nomura Cuts Dozens of Jobs at U.S. Investment-Banking Unit

Nomura Holdings Inc. cut dozens of jobs at its U.S. investment bank, people with knowledge of the matter said, joining several rivals that are starting to retrench as the coronavirus pandemic eats into revenue.

The firm notified some workers on Tuesday, according to the people, who asked not be identified because the headcount reduction isnt public. Less than 10% of the investment-banking staff in the U.S. are affected, the people said.

The cuts are among the first under new Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda, who since taking the reins in April has said that an existing 140 billion yen ($1.3 billion) restructuring program under his predecessor is no longer enough. Japans biggest brokerage has struggled to sustain profits abroad, and the task is getting harder now that the outbreak is hammering the global economy.

Read an interview story with Nomura CEO Okuda

Nomura, which posted a surprise loss in the first three months of 2020, is set to release fiscal first-quarter results later Wednesday. Okuda, 56, said last month that he ordered managers to review expenses in the wake of the pandemic and will consider cutting office space.

The job cuts are separate from reductions stemming from the closing of the Tokyo-based companys Instinet equity-research division, announced earlier this month. Nomura had 26,629 employees worldwide as of March, including 2,120 in the Americas.

Lawton King, a spokesman for Nomura, declined to comment.

Shares of Nomura opened 1.1% lower on Wednesday morning in Tokyo, taking this years decline to 15%.

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. pledged to preserve jobs as workers grappled with fallout from the pandemic.

But Cantor Fitzgerald said in April it would shrink its workforce “to position the firm for the uncertain macroeconomic conditions.” Wells Fargo & Co. is preparing to cut thousands of jobs starting later this year, and HSBC Holdings Plc in June resumed a plan to cut as many as 35,000 jobs, three months after the coronavirus outbreak forced it to pause a long-awaited overhaul.

(Updates with Nomura shares in the seventh paragraph)