TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nomura Holdings said on Thursday it would cut $1 billion (£759 million) in costs from its wholesale business over the medium term and shut 30 of 156 domestic retail branches, as it looks to turn around its struggling business.
Nomura had put its wholesale business under review after the segment drove Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank to its heaviest quarterly loss in nearly 10 years in the three months to December.
The move highlights the challenges Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank faces in transforming its business with the goal of cutting dependence on volatile markets and building up stable revenue flows.
For the year ending March, analysts expect the company to post its first annual loss since 2009, Refinitiv data shows.
The company had posted its heaviest quarterly loss in nearly 10 years in the three months to December, after which it put its wholesale segment under review.
The segment that includes trading and investment-banking service has struggled to generate profits amid weak fixed-income revenues. For the third quarter, it posted a pre-tax loss of 95.9 billion yen, versus a 14 billion yen profit a year earlier.
Nomura's retail business also suffered a steep profit fall as individual investors sat on the sidelines given turmoil in the market amid an escalating U.S.-China trade spat.
(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
