Nomura Holdings Reports Strong Quarterly Profit

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's Nomura Holdings (NYSE:NMR) more than doubled its quarterly profit on Friday, marking its sixth straight quarter of growth, bolstered by a strong performance at its wholesale business, even as the bank was dogged by a trading scandal.

Japan's top brokerage and investment bank reported a net profit of 98.4 billion yen ($645 million) for the July-September period, up from 35.2 billion yen the same period a year earlier. This result is the highest in four years and reflects solid performance in its wholesale business, including global markets and investment banking.

The results mark a bright spot for Nomura after being affected by the fallout from a bond trading scandal. Japan's banking regulator imposed a 21.8 million yen ($143,000) penalty after an investigation revealed that a trader manipulated the price of 10-year government bond futures contracts in March 2021.

Nomura has vowed to strengthen its compliance and internal controls and stated that "strict disciplinary action" has been taken against the trader and relevant managers. A number of senior executives will also take voluntary pay cuts of 20% for two months.

In response to the incident, Japan's finance ministry announced last month that it would suspend Nomura's primary dealer status for government bonds for a month.

($1 = 152.5300 yen)