Nomura’s top banker says traders’ ability to go ‘max risk’ is now higher

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The British banker in charge of reforming the global investment operations told Nomura after $ 2.9 billion of Archegos collapsed was hit, and finally closer to being able to “Max Risk”.

Christopher Wilkox has told the Financial Times newspaper, “The boring, foundational and basic things that have been done since he assumed the position of head of Nomura Trade business, investment banking services and international wealth management means that he was increasingly confident in eating bold high -risk stakes.

He said in an interview at the headquarters of the bank’s headquarters in Tokyo last month.

“If I have a great concession for the customer and I have a continuous flow of money that comes in the door over time, and I know that I will not go hunger if I do not risk today … I can wait until I have 80 to 90 percent of the condemnation.

During the era of CEO Kentaro Okuda, the largest mediation and investment bank in Japan is trying to shift towards the most urgent revenue sources, especially from wealth and assets management, to benefit from Japanese savers who reach the return with the return of inflation to the country.

As part of this strategy, the bank said this week that it has agreed to purchase the work of the American and European Public Asset Management in Macquarie for $ 1.8 billion, and its largest deal since the purchase of Asian and European -European Lehman Broths assets – something that puts the bank on the global stage but it is immersed in management years of troubled integration.

Willcox has now lost investor confidence to avoid painful bombing, from interior trade scandals to a huge blow from Archegos at Bill Hwang office in 2021.

Wilkox, who was a $ 12 million check last year more than three times from Okuda, was shared with the bank four years before JPMorgan Chase and promoted after a year to lead and repair wholesale works.

The results were so far encouraging. Last year, Nomura increased the annual profits for the first time since Ododa took over, driven by his wholesale. The bank is scheduled to report the profits of the entire year on Friday.

Willcox has replaced more than 500 people in global markets since they took off. Some employees were lying – including the Nomura price team in Europe – but many others are simply not good enough.

“In London, which was our most challenging business … around us 25 percent of the workforce in the global markets,” said Wilkox. “The normal mix of these companies is 5 to 10 percent … it is not easy to transfer 25 percent.”

While the previous modified trader expects a higher -level rotation rate to continue, it will not be at this short level because if you are replaced by 25 percent a year … you have a permanent trutkyite revolution. “

Willcox has also moved to a more global structure – where financial resources are not stored – and make sure that offices, from New York to Tokyo, are actually major information about customers and risks.

“In a regional structure, you will stick to it [financial resources] “Until death and spread it in the most dangerous or less things,” said Wilkox.

Ensuring the main bonus of the global performance, it eliminates “the risk of lazy, it abolishes you [areas]He says, say Ribo’s business when they can be published in stock financing. “

Willcox also adjusts the balance between sales representatives and merchants. Nomura had what Willcox guessed is “the lowest sales rate to a trader in the industry”, where traders exceeded their number in sales. Willcox transferred the bank to a ratio closer to 1.5 sales delegates to each merchant.

“People think [investment banking is] Art, but he knows. He said, “The more you talk to the clients you talk to, the more you talk to them, and the greater the quality of this interaction, the more the money you will achieve,” he said.

Willcox admits that it may take another crisis to really tell us whether it has obtained a right -risk balance in its reform unit, with another bombing near statistical certainty in view of the nature of the work.

He said: “Investors will understand this if we show sufficient consistency over a long time enough for a long time and we gain their confidence that we manage the work efficiently.”