Nomura to cut more than 100 jobs in Asia: media

Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's largest broker, will lay off more than 100 employees from its Asia-Pacific operations by the end of this month, the Nikkei business daily reported today.

Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's largest broker, will lay off more than 100 employees from its Asia-Pacific operations by the end of this month, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

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The cuts will mainly come from Asian operations outside Japan, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, as Nomura aims to lower costs following its acquisition of parts of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, the Nikkei said.

Nomura spokesman Tohru Namikawa declined to confirm the report but said the broker was reviewing its staffing levels.

"We will try to have the appropriate headcount for us to remain competitive in Asia. That will be done based on carefully examining our business plans to reflect the current environment."

Nomura said last week that it would axe up to 1,000 staff in London in its first big job cuts since it bought the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman, adding to a wave of lay-offs in the global financial industry.

Nomura took on about 1,500 employees from Lehman's operations in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan.

Shares of Nomura were up 8.7 per cent at 686 yen in afternoon trade in Tokyo, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average which was flat.