Nomura to Close U.S. Instinet Research Arm, Cut Analyst Jobs

(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. is closing its Instinet equity-research division in the U.S. as the investment bank pulls back from the business of providing its own market intelligence to clients.

As many as four dozen workers at the unit -- mostly stock analysts -- will leave, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the move hasn’t been announced. Tokyo-based Nomura announced Monday that its clients would be able to access analysis by Ed Wolfe’s Wolfe Research LLC, a New York-based firm, as part of a “strategic alliance agreement.” Talks between the companies were reported earlier by Bloomberg.

Some firms are exiting equities research or shrinking as fees dwindle and Europe’s MiFID II market rules force brokerages to separate charges for the service from trading. Nomura has long struggled to compete with bigger players in the U.S. such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The Japanese brokerage last year cut 50 U.S. workers as part of a $1 billion cost-cutting plan and pulled back from credit trading.

Lawton King, a spokesman for Nomura in New York, declined to comment.

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