"The result was very much disappointing," Chief Financial Officer Takumi Kitamura told reporters at an earnings briefing. "We are making an effort to get our business back at the cruising speed as soon as possible," Kitamura said.As part of its cost-cutting plans, Nomura has already said it will shut more than 30 of its 156 retail branches at home. It also plans to axe about 100 jobs in London, the centre for its European investment banking business, Reuters has reported.On Thursday, Nomura said it would not pay the performance-linked portion of compensation to dozens of executives for the year ended March given the lacklustre financial performance.Pretax profit at Nomura's key retail unit plunged 85 percent year in the fourth quarter. "Stock prices have recovered in some degree since January but our customers remain wait-and-see," Kitamura said.But it is the wholesale business, which serves corporations and institutional investors, that has been the biggest drag for Nomura. The segment swung to a pretax loss of 13 billion yen in the fourth quarter, from a 44.2 billion yen profit a year ago.The segment has been squeezed by lower trading revenue in fixed income.

Source: The Star April 25, 2019 10:07 UTC