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Bloomberg
Japan’s negative interest rates are turning into a positive in BNP Paribas SA’s eyes, as it joins other European banks in strengthening its markets business in the nation.
France’s biggest bank has hired about 30 people in Tokyo since January in areas such as sales of structured products, and it plans to recruit more this year, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the undertaking is confidential.
Rock-bottom interest rates in Japan have led institutions to seek investments with better returns than assets such as government bonds. Barclays Plc, which has added 30 people in Tokyo in the past 12 months, is planning to hire more than 10 investment bankers and sales staff this fiscal year, partly to sell investment products to banks and hedge funds.
Among the recruits at BNP Paribas, here are a few names.
Ayumi Fujimoto joined last month from Deutsche Bank AG as head of Japan financial products sales Takashi Tamiya moved from the German bank in June to lead asset finance and securitization business in the nation Daisuke Yamada joined from Morgan Stanley in January as Japan head of yen and foreign-currency rates sales
Yukiko Kishino, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman, confirmed the recent hires, without commenting on the bank’s recruitment plans.
BNP Paribas Securities (Japan) Ltd. posted net income of 15 billion yen ($136 million) in the year ended March, its biggest profit
at least in five years, according to a regulatory filing.
The firm’s headcount in Japan rose to 382 from 378 a year earlier.
Management Shuffle
The brokerage promoted Ayumu Fukazawa, head of primary markets, to lead
its Japan global markets operations from Aug. 1, succeeding Kyoya Okazawa, who is heading to Hong Kong in September to take charge of Asia sales, according to the people.
Fukazawa, a former head of capital markets of Credit Suisse Group AG who joined BNP Paribas last year, will oversee Japan equity and fixed-income research, sales, trading and underwriting businesses, the people said.