Nomura to trim investment banking unit in Dubai

Nomura to trim investment banking unit in Dubai

The job cuts in Dubai are confined to the investment banking team, while the capital markets business is not undergoing any reductions, one of the sources said.

September 20, 2012 3:33 by Reuters

Nomura Holdings, the Japanese bank aiming to slash $1 billion in costs, is to cut a “handful” of investment banking jobs in Dubai, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The rationalisation measures by Japan’s largest investment bank, which unveiled its second major restructuring of its loss-making overseas operations last month, follows Deutsche Bank’s plans to slash its investment banking workforce in Dubai.

The job cuts in Dubai are confined to the investment banking team, while the capital markets business is not undergoing any reductions, one of the sources said.

Bloomberg News had reported that Nomura is cutting a third of its investment banking team of 12 and eliminating Scott Ferguson, head of its investment banking business for Middle East and North Africa region.

A Nomura spokesman in Dubai declined to comment.

In the Middle East, Nomura has been traditionally strong in capital markets activities and derives most of its revenue from derivatives and structured transactions.

Nomura shut down its research department in the region last year.

The bank, under the leadership of new CEO Koji Nagai, is trying to shore up its troubled overseas operations, built in large part on its acquisition of the Asian and European businesses of failed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The latest restructuring, announced in August, is on top of a $1.2 billion cost-savings move launched last year.