Nomura Group has always focused on contributing to social prosperity through the provision of financial and investment services for the benefit of our clients and all of our stakeholders. We place particular emphasis on the following five topics in pursuing our corporate and social responsibility aims.
In restructuring our businesses we have looked long and hard at what our clients need and want from us. The global financial crisis that started in the autumn of 2008 ended the reign of leverage-led financial models and created havoc for many financial institutions and nations. Of course we were not immune to the turmoil and posted a consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ended March 31 2009. While this net loss was partly due to the global financial crisis it was amplified by the fact that we had increased trading on our own account. Realizing that, we had to refocus some of our trading operations and find and deliver the right products and services for our clients.
I tell employees that we should work with clients as if we are looking in the mirror. We have to consider how our clients see us, what they are demanding from us and understand clearly what they expect of us. Client interests range from investing for their retirement to initial public offerings and M&A deals. We must offer specific solutions for each client given their priorities so that they can count on Nomura everything that has to do with markets and investments. Our aim must be to grow as a result of our clients' success.
I am always keen for people to learn the essentials of finance and investment - it is an essential life skill in the modern world. Our employees actively support financial and economic education to help people become better at managing and building their financial assets. To do this we provide learning materials and instructors to help people plan effectively for various financial life stages and lead a more prosperous life.
Finance and investment is a global business and Japanese corporations and households understand this and are keen buyers of goods and services from all over the world. Indeed many Nomura Group products and services come from foreign financial institutions. But I will admit that Nomura Group does have to increase its exposure to global skills and thinking. The Japanese financial services industry performs slightly below the nation's economic strength as a whole and we, and our domestic counterparts, must build up our resources and influence.
That is why Nomura Group welcomed around 8,000 professionals from Lehman Brothers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. This was a necessary investment in our future. Since I became CEO last year my management vision has encompassed making Nomura a truly competitive global financial services group. I am convinced that the Lehman Brothers' personnel will help us reach that goal.
It is worth noting that nearly 4,000 foreign nationals already worked in Nomura Group before the Lehman Brothers acquisitions and we have been busy building diversity in our business for some years. Just as we have staff and clients from many nationalities and cultures, our employees each have unique personalities and talents that we need to encourage and respect. I know that our people really are our greatest asset as a financial services group and we have to do everything possible to make sure staff realize their full potential and our clients benefit from their talents. We are updating our personnel evaluation system in order to maximize the effectiveness of each individual and in order to serve the needs of our broad client base.
 Kenichi Watanabe  |
There are certain factors that I always consider when making decisions. The three key phrases that I use as CEO at Nomura are:
These are attributes that we have to have as a business in today's markets. In addition, I have always stressed the importance of listening to society as a whole and what it is saying about finance and expecting of us. Nomura Holdings employs a committee-based corporate governance system. Six of our twelve directors are by intention from outside the company. Of these outside directors, two are legal or accounting experts, the other four are executives from companies in the manufacturing sector. We chose these directors because we wanted opinions from business people outside the financial services industry who can help us innovate, make new discoveries and identify additional risks that might otherwise escape our notice. And looking beyond governance we should constantly strive to absorb ideas and information from the society we work in, particularly from non-government and non-profit organizations. By forging a social consensus we can more quickly identify our challenges and accelerate appropriate decision-making. In order to work in harmony with society we need to agree and understand our principles, discuss how we act on them and share our goals with all employees and the outside world. Frontline executives who are closer to society should have increased daily decision-making capability. Employees should have their own philosophies about the service we offer and, using feedback from society, help us develop products and services that match social needs. Our commitment to these efforts will surely win true social and client trust for the Nomura Group. |
