(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc.’s ranking in the corporate bond market remains under pressure after its reputation was hit by a market manipulation scandal at a time of greater scrutiny of corporate governance breaches in Japan.
Japan’s biggest brokerage saw its position in the league table fall to sixth place and market share shrink to 1.9% as of Dec. 2, data compiled by Bloomberg showed, with online brokerage SBI Holdings Inc. leapfrogging over its bigger rival. The decline comes as issuers including KDDI Corp. did not appoint Nomura as an arranger for their debt offerings.
In 2023, Nomura was ranked third among underwriters for Japanese corporate bonds with a market share of 19%.
Nomura’s experience contrasts with that of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., which committed a similar violation in 2018. The drop in its market share was relatively small compared with Nomura. It fell to about 11% in August, two months after the case was announced in June 2018, from around 27% in May.
Issuers and market investors have become increasingly sensitive to working with financial institutions which were found to breach rules as they are getting more accountable, said Yumiko Miwa, a professor at Meiji University who studies corporate governance.
KDDI raised ¥210 billion ($1.4 billion) by selling bonds in November, and Nomura wasn’t appointed to manage the deal. SoftBank Group Corp. sold ¥350 billion of bonds, and unlike in previous transactions, Nomura was not a lead manager in the offering.
Nomura’s Tokyo-based spokesperson was not available to comment. A representative at KDDI also declined to comment on details of the selection process for managers, while SoftBank’s corporate communication office said in an email “Lead managers are selected based on their proposal, including the amount they wish to sell.”
Last month, Nomura added “criminal acts by officers and employees against customers” as a new risk to its business after a former employee was indicted for attempted robbery and murder of a customer, and arson of a current building.
Still, mega-banks and life insurers have gradually resumed business with Nomura for market trading operations after it announced that it completed paying the fine and tightened its internal control system in October.
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