is a

financial Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

and a principal member of the Nomura Group, which is

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

's largest

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and

brokerage A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neith ...

group. It, along with its

broker-dealer In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and ...

, banking and other financial services subsidiaries, provides investment, financing and related services to individual, institutional, and government customers on a global basis with an emphasis on securities businesses.

History

Origins

The history of Nomura began on December 25, 1925, when

Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. is a Japanese financial services company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the Nomura Group. It plays a central role in the securities business, the group's core business. Nomura is a financial se ...

(NSC) was established in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, as a spin-off from Securities Dept. of Osaka Nomura Bank Co., Ltd (the present day

Resona Bank () is the holding company of , the fifth-largest banking group in Japan as of 2012. It is headquartered in the Kiba area of Koto, Tokyo. The main operating entities of the group are Resona Bank, a nationwide corporate and retail bank headqu ...

). NSC initially focused on the

bond market The bond market (also debt market or credit market) is a financial market in which participants can issue new debt, known as the primary market, or buy and sell debt security (finance), securities, known as the secondary market. This is usually in ...

. It was named after its founder

Tokushichi Nomura II was a Japanese businessman, investor and politician. He was the founder of the Nomura Group ''zaibatsu'' and Nomura Securities, and served as a member of the House of Peers. Early life and family Nomura was born on August 7, 1878, in present-d ...

, a wealthy Japanese businessman and investor. He had earlier established Osaka Nomura bank in 1918, based on the

Mitsui zaibatsu is a Japanese corporate group and ''keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Inst ...

model with a capital of ¥10 million. Like the majority of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

conglomerates, or

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

, its origins were in

, but today operates out of Tokyo. NSC gained the authority to trade stock in 1938, and went public in 1961.

Lehman Brothers acquisition

In October 2008, Nomura acquired most of

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

' Asian operations together with its European equities and investment banking units to make one of the world's largest independent investment banks with ¥20,300bn (£138bn) assets under management. In April 2009, the global headquarters for investment banking was moved out of Tokyo to London as part of a strategy to move the company's focus from Japan to global markets, with Josh Tokley appointed Head of UK Investments. Following his subsequent suspension, Tokley was replaced by Michael Coombs. Nomura paid $225 million for the purchase of Lehman's Asia-Pacific unit. Due to large losses with shares dropping to their lowest level in nearly 37 years, Nomura cut around 5 percent of its staff in Europe (as many as 500 people) in mid-September 2011.

Greentech acquisition

In December 2019, Nomura announced that it would acquire Greentech Capital Advisors, a

boutique investment bank A boutique investment bank is an investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks' strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corpor ...

with stated aims of assisting clients across sustainable technology and infrastructure. The transaction is expected to close on March 31, 2020. Greentech will be rebranded to "Nomura Greentech" and will form part of their Investment Banking franchise in the U.S.

Macquarie asset management acquisition

In April 2025, Nomura agreed to acquire Macquarie's U.S. and European public asset management business in a $1.8 billion all-cash deal. As a result, Nomura's investment management division will take on roughly $180 billion in new assets across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, for a total of approximately $770 billion in total assets under management (AUM). Expected to close by the end of 2025, the acquisition represents Nomura's largest international expansion since 2008, when it bought Lehman Brothers' Asian and European assets.

Nomura Holdings and member companies

The marketing slogan of Nomura is "Connecting Markets East & West". Nomura Holdings, Inc. is the

of the

Nomura Group is a financial holding company and a principal member of the Nomura Group, which is Japan's largest investment bank and brokerage group. It, along with its broker-dealer, banking and other financial services subsidiaries, provides investment, fin ...

and the group's principal member. As a

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

, Nomura Holdings, Inc. does not directly run member companies, rather it keeps a controlling stake of cross shareholdings and manages financial assistance among member companies which help to deflect hostile takeovers.

Core members

* Nomura Holding America Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. * Nomura Europe Holdings plc operates as a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. * Nomura Asia Holding N.V. operates as a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. *

Nomura Securities is a Japanese financial services company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the Nomura Group. It plays a central role in the securities business, the group's core business. Nomura is a financial ...

, operates as a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. *

Nomura Research Institute is the largest economic research and consulting firm in Japan, and a member of the Nomura Group. Established in 1965, the firm now employs over 13,000 people. It owns ten subsidiaries in Japan and multiple subsidiaries overseas, in India, New Y ...

* Nomura Financial Products Europe GmbH * Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. * The Nomura Trust & Banking Co. * Nomura Babcock & Brown Co., Ltd. * Nomura Capital Investment Co., Ltd. *

Nomura Investor Relations Co., Ltd. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Principal Finance Co., Ltd. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Funds Research And Technologies Co., Ltd. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

* Nomura Pension Support & Service Co., Ltd. * Nomura Research & Advisory Co., Ltd. *

Nomura Business Services Co., Ltd. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Satellite Communications Co., Ltd. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Facilities, Inc. Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

* Nomura Services India Pvt. Ltd. *

Nomura Healthcare Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Nomura Private Equity Capital Nomura (written: 野村 "field village" or 埜村 "wilderness village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese volleyball player * , Japanese-American baseball agent * , Japanese voice actor, including in t ...

Unified Partners Unified may refer to: * The Unified, a wine symposium held in Sacramento, California, USA * ''Unified'', the official student newspaper of Canterbury Christ Church University * UNFD, an Australian record label * ''Unified'' (Sweet & Lynch album), ...

* Nomura Agri Planning & Advisory *

Instinet Instinet Incorporated is an institutional, agency-model broker that also serves as the independent equity trading arm of its parent, Nomura Group. It executes trades for asset management firms, hedge funds, insurance companies, mutual funds a ...

Nomura Securities

Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. is a Japanese

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

company and a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the

. It plays a central role in the

securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...

business, the group's core business. Nomura is a financial services group and global investment bank. Based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, with regional headquarters in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, Nomura employs about 26,000 staff worldwide; it is known as Nomura Securities International in the US, and Nomura International plc. in

EMEA Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commonly known by its acronym EMEA among the North American business spheres, is a geographical region used by institutions, governments and global spheres of marketing, media and business when referring to t ...

. It operates through five business divisions: retail (in Japan), global markets, investment banking, merchant banking, and asset management. Established December 25, 1925 in

, it is the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. It is named after its founder

, a wealthy Japanese businessman and investor.

History

Background (before 1925)

Nomura was founded by Tokushichi Nomura, father of Nomura Securities founder

as a

money changing Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: med ...

business. This was just before the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the move to setting up a bank was a logical extension and progression of this business as times changed. Changes included the founding of stock exchanges in Tokyo and Osaka as the country became industrialised. Key amongst these changes was the Japanese government's decision to issue foreign currency denominated public bonds to fund the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

; Nomura employed English speaking staff so that they could take on this international business. By 1906 Nomura had founded an in-house research department headed up by former Osaka newspaper journalist Kisaku Hashimoto. This was responsible for publishing the Osaka Nomura Business News with trading news, stock analysis and current economic trends. Research combined with a substantial newspaper advertising campaign helped raise the profile of Nomura. By 1917, Nomura had gone public and soon after Osaka Nomura Bank (the present day

) was set up, within this business there was a securities section to handle bond sales and underwriting.

Notes

References

External links

{{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Osaka Exchange Companies listed on the Singapore Exchange Companies in the Nikkei 225 Banks of Japan Financial services companies based in Tokyo Financial services companies established in 1925 Chūō, Tokyo Asset management companies