Nomura speaking the language of Malaysia
One of the world’s leading financial services companies is now speaking a global language while staying true to its Japanese roots and culture. Nomura Malaysia Sdn Bhd is an established equity consulting company in Malaysia while the Nomura name brand is an international brand that covers a broad financial spectrum from banking to investment.
Nomura Malaysia’s President and CEO, Yoshikazu Adachi, said Nomura is ready to make a major contribution to the growth of Malaysia’s economy, having had a presence in the country since 1993 and receiving its stockbroking license from the Securities Commission in 2009.
He said the decision of its Japanese masters several years ago to expand into foreign markets and adopt English as an integral business language has enabled Nomura to succeed on overseas shores.
“A lot of communication is now done in English,” said Mr Adachi. “If you are in Tokyo, you can see a lot of non-Japanese walking around. And in internal meetings, even though one person may be non-Japanese among 99 Japanese, our meeting will still be held in English.
“So this is kind of our culture. It’s very interesting to see the Japanese talking in English.” The company, a subsidiary of Nomura Asia Holding NV, was previously known as Nomura Advisory Services (Malaysia) Sdn and changed its name to Nomura Malaysia Sdn Bhd in Feburary, 2006.
Promoting Malaysia
One of its core businesses is to attract investment into Malaysia from overseas. Mr Adachi has been quoted in the media as saying: “Nomura can provide something for the Malaysian economy. We can highlight the unique features of Malaysia to our investors.”
He expected the country’s share markets to experience more activity from existing Nomura clients in places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the United States. For the fiscal year 2010/11, the parent company in Japan, Nomura Holdings, reported net revenue of 1.1 trillion yen, down 1.7 per cent year on year, before income taxes of 93.3 billion yen. Net income attributable to shareholders was 28.7 billion yen, down 57.7 year on year.
The company blamed the sovereign debt crisis in Europe for its inability to boost revenues, of which 42 per cent came from outside Japan. However, the company was satisfied at being able to achieve a second straight year of profitability.
Nomura’s eagerness to encourage foreign investment in Malaysia was highlighted by its involvement in the Invest Malaysia conference in 2010, along with Maybank, to showcase to the world investment opportunities in Malaysia’s capital markets.
Although the aim of the conference was to promote investment opportunities with its clients, it also helped to raise the profile of Nomura in the Malaysian financial arena.
“That was an unexpected effect,” said Mr Adachi. “By hosting this conference, we got many enquiries for what Nomura can do. So that was a very unique and good opportunity for us.”
Islamic values
Mr Adachi says that though Japan is not a Muslim country, the Japanese culture shares many of the values that Islam holds dear, allowing Nomura to successfully enter into the Islamic finance market through its Malaysian headquarters.
“Nomura is quite different from a western house. We are originally from Japan,” said Mr Adachi, who has Korean heritage. “We are originally from Asia and Muslims and Japanese are similar. You need to have a certain period of time to establish a proper relationship. Our business culture and our lifestyles are somewhat quite similar. We can help Middle Eastern people here.
“I think Malaysia has very unique features in terms of investment prospects. The regulators are very open for discussion with investors. We can convey these qualities to the people of the Middle East.”
In January 2009, the holding company established Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdb Bhd, an Islamic fund management firm in Kuala Lumpur, having earned an Islamic Fund Management Company license from Malaysia’s Securities Commission.
In 2010, Nomura Holdings announced in Kuala Lumpur plans to sell US$100 million worth of Ijarah sukuk (Islamic bonds) that will mature in 2012, using Kuwait Finance House as the sale arranger.
One of the world’s leading financial services companies is now speaking a global language while staying true to its Japanese roots and culture. Nomura Malaysia Sdn Bhd is an established equity consulting company in Malaysia while the Nomura name brand is an international brand that covers a broad financial spectrum from banking to investment. Nomura Malaysia’s President and CEO, Yoshikazu Adachi, said Nomura is ready to make a major contribution to the growth of Malaysia’s economy, having had a presence in the country since 1993 and receiving its stockbroking license from the Securities Commission in 2009. He said the decision...
One of the world’s leading financial services companies is now speaking a global language while staying true to its Japanese roots and culture. Nomura Malaysia Sdn Bhd is an established equity consulting company in Malaysia while the Nomura name brand is an international brand that covers a broad financial spectrum from banking to investment.
Nomura Malaysia’s President and CEO, Yoshikazu Adachi, said Nomura is ready to make a major contribution to the growth of Malaysia’s economy, having had a presence in the country since 1993 and receiving its stockbroking license from the Securities Commission in 2009.
He said the decision of its Japanese masters several years ago to expand into foreign markets and adopt English as an integral business language has enabled Nomura to succeed on overseas shores.
“A lot of communication is now done in English,” said Mr Adachi. “If you are in Tokyo, you can see a lot of non-Japanese walking around. And in internal meetings, even though one person may be non-Japanese among 99 Japanese, our meeting will still be held in English.
“So this is kind of our culture. It’s very interesting to see the Japanese talking in English.” The company, a subsidiary of Nomura Asia Holding NV, was previously known as Nomura Advisory Services (Malaysia) Sdn and changed its name to Nomura Malaysia Sdn Bhd in Feburary, 2006.
Promoting Malaysia
One of its core businesses is to attract investment into Malaysia from overseas. Mr Adachi has been quoted in the media as saying: “Nomura can provide something for the Malaysian economy. We can highlight the unique features of Malaysia to our investors.”
He expected the country’s share markets to experience more activity from existing Nomura clients in places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the United States. For the fiscal year 2010/11, the parent company in Japan, Nomura Holdings, reported net revenue of 1.1 trillion yen, down 1.7 per cent year on year, before income taxes of 93.3 billion yen. Net income attributable to shareholders was 28.7 billion yen, down 57.7 year on year.
The company blamed the sovereign debt crisis in Europe for its inability to boost revenues, of which 42 per cent came from outside Japan. However, the company was satisfied at being able to achieve a second straight year of profitability.
Nomura’s eagerness to encourage foreign investment in Malaysia was highlighted by its involvement in the Invest Malaysia conference in 2010, along with Maybank, to showcase to the world investment opportunities in Malaysia’s capital markets.
Although the aim of the conference was to promote investment opportunities with its clients, it also helped to raise the profile of Nomura in the Malaysian financial arena.
“That was an unexpected effect,” said Mr Adachi. “By hosting this conference, we got many enquiries for what Nomura can do. So that was a very unique and good opportunity for us.”
Islamic values
Mr Adachi says that though Japan is not a Muslim country, the Japanese culture shares many of the values that Islam holds dear, allowing Nomura to successfully enter into the Islamic finance market through its Malaysian headquarters.
“Nomura is quite different from a western house. We are originally from Japan,” said Mr Adachi, who has Korean heritage. “We are originally from Asia and Muslims and Japanese are similar. You need to have a certain period of time to establish a proper relationship. Our business culture and our lifestyles are somewhat quite similar. We can help Middle Eastern people here.
“I think Malaysia has very unique features in terms of investment prospects. The regulators are very open for discussion with investors. We can convey these qualities to the people of the Middle East.”
In January 2009, the holding company established Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdb Bhd, an Islamic fund management firm in Kuala Lumpur, having earned an Islamic Fund Management Company license from Malaysia’s Securities Commission.
In 2010, Nomura Holdings announced in Kuala Lumpur plans to sell US$100 million worth of Ijarah sukuk (Islamic bonds) that will mature in 2012, using Kuwait Finance House as the sale arranger.
