Nomura to hire more in US later this year: Report

NEW YORK: Japanese brokerage firm Nomura Holdings Inc, which had acquired Asian and European businesses of bankrupt Lehman Brothers, is planning to hire more people after recruiting 135 employees in the last eight months in US.

"The Japanese bank said it has hired 135 bankers in the US during the past eight months and is considering another big recruitment drive later this year," The Wall Street Journal said in a report published online.

The company's latest hires include a team of 10 equity-derivatives specialists led by Dmitriy Genkin, who previously worked at Merrill Lynch & Co which is now owned by Bank of America, the daily said.

The report quoted Nomura Global Equities Head Naoki Matsuba as saying, "I am cautious about launching the second stage of our US expansion because it would be a big, big operation and I want to see more profits first."

"The US is the missing piece in Nomura's plan to become a global investment bank, "Matsuba added.

The WSJ report said that despite Nomura trimming its employee base by 2,100 to 25,626 between October and March it was still hiring in the US. The company has about 750 employees in North America, up from 650 in September.