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Mizuho Securities Sheds Senior Employees in Japan Equities

Mizuho Securities Sheds Senior Employees in Japan Equities

(Bloomberg) -- Several managers at Mizuho Financial Group Inc.’s equity business in Japan are leaving the firm as it scales back the operation, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Almost 10 employees from the division, including senior staff members, are departing, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. Joji Watanabe, co-head of pan-Asia equities, and Christina Makiguchi, head of electronic trading, are among them, the people said.

Mizuho had been building up the business in recent years as it sought to challenge Nomura Holdings Inc. as Japan’s biggest equity firm. The Tokyo-based bank added dozens of stock analysts and sales people under Yohei Osade, who was global head of Asian equities before moving to the advisory business last year.

The equities business is now overseen by Norikazu Akedo, who joined Mizuho as joint head of global markets from Nomura earlier this year.

Watanabe joined Mizuho in October 2016 as global head of Asia equity execution after working for more than two decades at Nomura. Representatives of Mizuho’s securities unit declined to comment, as did Watanabe. Makiguchi said she is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

Japan’s third-biggest banking group is cutting costs as a slowing domestic economy adds to pain from protracted low interest rates. Mizuho’s net income tumbled 83% in the year ended March, hurt by charges tied to information systems and securities losses. Profit at its brokerage arm fell 88% as stock commissions slipped, although revenue from equity trading rose.

In a five-year business plan released this month, Mizuho said it would accelerate a reduction in employees and cut more retail branches. At Mizuho Securities, headcount fell 4% since last June to 7,541 as of March, according to a filing.

To contact the reporters on this story: Takashi Nakamichi in Tokyo at tnakamichi1@bloomberg.net;Takako Taniguchi in Tokyo at ttaniguchi4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward

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