Nomura Announces the Build-Out of Its U.S. Equity Division

New York, May 18, 2009 – Nomura Securities International, Inc. (NSI) a U.S. broker-dealer within Nomura Group announced the strategic build-out of its U.S. Equity division. The U.S. franchise is a key component of the firm's global strategy and Nomura remains committed to establishing a significant presence in this market. The strategy in U.S. Equity is focused on hiring recognized market-leading teams to build out and leverage Nomura's global franchise.

Commenting on the build-out, NSI President and Chief Executive Officer Shigesuke Kashiwagi stated, "We are delighted to bring on board proven professionals and look forward to continue to add value to our clients. The new hires are an example of the importance that Nomura places on its franchise in the Americas. We will continue to add key personnel in our U.S. Equity division during 2009."

Commencing in October 2008, NSI hired a six person former Lehman Brothers, Global Program Trading team from Barclays Capital. The team is led by Managing Director Kevin Brady, who is spearheading the expansion of the Global Program trading capabilities in the U.S. market. The team was ranked #1 for two consecutive years for Overall Portfolio Trading Quality by Greenwich Partners.

To complement this team and enhance the firm's quantitative and electronic product offering, NSI hired a significant portion of the former Quant Analytics and Systematic Trading team of Lehman Brothers in November 2008. This team is led by Managing Directors Michael Bos, Amit Manwani and Mark Mancini(1). They will focus on building world-class analytics, algorithmic and quantitative trading capabilities, and plan to offer a comprehensive suite of U.S. algorithms to clients by the end of this year. In 2008, this team was ranked #1 in multiple product categories by Greenwich Partners.

The combination of the Program Trading, Quant Analytics and Managing Director Joseph Mezrich's Quantitative Research teams provides NSI with a world-class quantitative execution platform; and this combined offering will be crucial to achieving NSI's goal of becoming a dominant player in the liquidity landscape.

In April 2009, NSI was proud to welcome 14 Equity Derivatives salespeople and traders, including 10 from Bank of America's top ranked Equity Derivatives team. The team is led by Managing Director Dmitriy Genkin and will offer Flow and Structured Derivatives capabilities. Flow Trading, led by Managing Directors Rajesh Malhotra and Brian Bier, will focus on trading Listed Single Stock and Index Options, including ETFs, and will build-out an OTC Options and Delta-1 offering. Managing Directors Samir Patel and Steven Moses will lead the Flow Sales effort and are working towards offering a comprehensive product suite to clients commencing in June. Managing Director William Brett will be joining NSI as part of the firm's Structured Sales efforts.

In International Sales and Trading, NSI has made significant progress in expanding the footprint of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) products. Managing Director Edward Peel has transferred from Nomura's London office to New York to become the Head of EMEA Research Sales in the Americas. He was previously head of Generalist Sales in London. Mr. Peel will be joined by Managing Director Jeff Marine, joining from Merrill Lynch, and will form an eight person sales team with over 90 years of combined selling experience. Managing Director Christopher Valli, who joined from Barclays Capital, will lead the non-Japan Asia sales team. Managing Director Richard Tobin, formerly of Merrill Lynch, will join the International Sales-Trading team. These hires will enable NSI to increase traction with U.S. investors by providing superior international content, increased corporate access and greater geographical sales representation with offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco.

In May 2009, Naoki Matsuba, Senior Managing Director and Head of Global Equities, Nomura Holdings, Inc. moved to New York to direct the growth of the U.S. Equity business. He re-located from London, where he had led the Equity Integration of the former Lehman Brothers European operations. Mr. Matsuba previously served as NSI's Head of Equity in 2004 and as President and Chief Executive of NSI in 2008. This marks the first time a global business head will be working out of the Americas division and further demonstrates the strategic importance of the Americas region.

To support Mr. Matsuba, Managing Director and EMEA Equity Management Committee member Chuck Teixeira will transfer from London to New York in June to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer of Equity for the Americas, bringing with him valuable integration and business strategy experience.

These initial hires and senior management transfers reflect Nomura's continued commitment to building a significant presence in the U.S. market. Nomura plans to build on this significant momentum in the coming year with further targeted recruitment of world-class salespeople and traders to build-out its Equity division. The U.S. Equity expansion plan is a key component of Nomura's strategic goal to be the #1 global liquidity provider in Equities.

NOTES:

1. Mark Mancini is co-head of Liquid Markets Analytics and Head of Prime Services Product Managementin APAC

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For further information please contact:

Name	Company	Telephone
Ralph Piscitelli	Nomura Holding America Inc.	+1 212 667 2430

Nomura

Nomura is a leading financial services group and the preeminent Asian-based investment bank with worldwide reach. Nomura provides a broad range of innovative solutions tailored to the specific requirements of individual, institutional, corporate and government clients through an international network in over 30 countries. Based in Tokyo and with regional headquarters in Hong Kong, London, and New York, Nomura employs about 26,000 staff worldwide. Nomura's unique understanding of Asia enables the company to make a difference for clients through five business divisions: retail, global markets, investment banking, merchant banking, and asset management. For further information about Nomura, please visit www.nomura.com.

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