Mizuho Securities plans to quickly expand its domestic retail network in a bid to catch up with bigger rivals such as Nomura Holdings that are able to rely on retail revenues to shore up other operations, the new head of the brokerage said.
"For other houses, retail operations serve as a stable source of revenue and profits. They have been improving the way they run their retail operations for around 10 years," said Hiroshi Motoyama, who became president of the brokerage unit of Japan's No.2 bank Mizuho Financial Group last week.
"We cannot afford to spend 10 years catching up," he told Reuters in an interview, although he did not reveal the pace at which the company will open branches in Japan.
Motoyama, however, faces a huge challenge in making Mizuho Securities profitable. Hurt by bad bets on subprime loans, in the year ended March 31 2008, the securities house lost 418.7 billion yen ($5.3 billion). It posted a net loss of 29.3 billion yen in the last business year.
The firm, created about a decade ago through the merger of the brokerage units of three banks that combined to form Mizuho Financial Group, merged with Shinko Securities in 2009.
"We have reaped (the fruits) of the merger a lot already, but there are still things we have to improve, including IT systems, branch strategy and the optimal placement of human resources."
Motoyama, 57, in 1977 joined the Industrial Bank of Japan, one of Mizuho Financial's legacy firms, rising to the No. 2 post at Mizuho Corporate Bank.
He takes over at Mizuho Securities as Japan's top lenders including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group look for ways to grow beyond traditional commercial banking into investment banking and brokerage services.
Earlier this year, Mizuho Financial revealed a plan to buy in September the shares it doesn't already own in the brokerage as well those of the more retail-focused Mizuho Investors Securities , in an effort to lower costs and consolidate the group's often overlapping businesses.
"Rivals like Nomura and Nikko have secured stable revenue and profit sources by increasing client assets under management and by relying less on brokerage commission. We also started such efforts last year and we will accelerate them," Motoyama said.
Mizuho Securities has 20.9 trillion yen of client assets under management, compared with Nomura's 70.6 trillion yen and 30.6 trillion yen at SMBC Nikko Securities, which is owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
A strong retail network is crucial to securing more underwriting business, he said, noting the importance of having access to a larger pool of potential investors capable of absorbing large-scale equity and bond offerings.
Motoyama said his company will gain better links with corporate clients by further integrating operations with Mizuho Corporate Bank.
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