Nomura fires, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch hires

Nomura has cut approximately 50 staff in its investment banking division (IBD) across non-Japan Asia, in what one source says is a rationalisation move following the integration with Lehman Brothers, the former US investment bank, in 2008. The cuts were reportedly across the board in terms of front office versus support functions, as well as in terms of seniority.

"No one was protected," says the source. There are no details of how the layoffs were split between Nomura and ex-Lehman bankers. The source adds that Nomura now has 150-200 investment bankers in Asia ex-Japan, which puts it on a par with its rivals in an environment suffering from reduced deal flow.

One Nomura banker says that the cuts amounted to 'no more than a trim', compared to the enormous staff cuts announced this week by UBS. The Swiss bank is cutting 8,700 jobs globally by 2010. Nomura is doing well in mergers and acquisitions in Asia ex-Japan, lying second on the league table year-to-date, but has a much weaker showing in debt and equity underwriting.

Meanwhile, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch announced via an internal memo on Thursday the appointment of Takefumi Goto to the position of director and head of Japan yen flow sales, reporting to Hideo Misawa. Goto joins the bank's FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) team from Morgan Stanley Japan where he worked in the yen interest rates sales group. He is a 16-year veteran of the Japanese fixed-income market.

BOA-ML also announced that Hiroyuki Uchiyama is joining as a director and head of multi-strategy sales, reporting to Michael Halloran, who is co-head of Asia-Pacific global markets. Uchiyama comes from Goldman Sachs Japan, where he handled hedge fund sales. He began his career at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

Finally, Hiroyuki Kitakata joins BOA-ML as a director and head of commodity solutions in Japan, reporting locally to Halloran and regionally to Diego Parrilla, head of Asia-Pacific commodities. Kitakata joins from Deutsche Securities. Kitakata started his career at Bank of Tokyo, subsequently known as Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

Tsukasa Noda, a spokesman for BOA-ML in Tokyo, confirmed the moves. 

Bankers say that there is a sense that markets are picking up both in Japan and the rest of Asia.