BNP Paribas Is Said to Expand Japan Operations With 30 Hires

(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:

• 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. BNP Paribas was the No. 11 manager of Japan bond sales last year, up from 20th a year earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The Paris-based bank has been revamping its research in Japan. Earlier this year, it combined its equity and credit research into a team of 12 analysts and strategists to begin issuing joint reports before the so-called MiFID II regulations come into force in January, Mana Nakazora, the head of investment research, said in an interview in June.

Barclays, which has about 35 investment bankers in Tokyo, plans to recruit five to seven people to sell products such as equity derivatives to hedge funds, large banks and regional lenders, Japan President Kentaro Kiso said in an interview published last month. It also aims to add about five people for investment banking including on mergers advice, he said.

BNP Paribas reported second-quarter profit of 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) last week, surpassing the 1.91 billion-euro average estimate of six analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward