November 16, 2010
Goldman Sachs, 130 Global Bankers to Meet in Tokyo as Japan Outlook Dims
Global investment bankers operating in Japan will meet in Tokyo this month as weak economic growth and tighter banking rules spark concern that their business prospects may dim, the event organizer said.
About 130 executives of firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Nomura Holdings Inc. are scheduled to attend the seminar on Nov. 29 to look for growth ideas, said Katsunobu Komizo, vice chairman of the non-profit Society to Promote Reform of the Financial Human Resources Market.
“Most bankers and managers in Japan are under pressure to boost revenue next year” even as stricter international regulations reduce their ability to take risk and global investors overlook the country, Komizo said in an interview in Tokyo. “But they shouldn’t be so pessimistic” given Japanese companies and households’ high level of cash holdings, he added.
Foreign financial firms have cut about 5,000 jobs in Japan over the past two years and will eliminate more as they question the country’s growth prospects and deploy staff in China and elsewhere in Asia, according to Executive Search Partners Co.
Attendees at the meeting later this month will include executives and directors in charge of hiring and growth strategies at their firms, said Komizo, 66, who is chief executive officer of the Tokyo-based career consulting firm.
The value of mergers and acquisitions in China and Hong Kong is double the amount recorded in Japan this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Tokyo Stock Exchange President Atsushi Saito will give a speech on how to globalize Japanese capital markets and rid the financial industry of its “sense of stagnation,” according to the event invitation. Other speakers include Naoko Nemoto, a managing director at Standard & Poor’s.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/goldman-sachs-130-global-bankers-to-meet-in-tokyo-as-japan-outlook-dims.html
