Nomura expands into Dubai to offer wealth management services

REUTERS/Toru Hanai

Nomura Holdings’ global wealth management business is opening a branch in Dubai as it expands into the fast growing Middle East hub to cater to an affluent pool of clients.

Nomura said in a statement on Tuesday it had received in-principle approvals from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to establish its new wealth management relationship centre.

The expansion will be through its Nomura Singapore unit, which is already the booking centre for its international wealth business for its target markets of Greater China, Southeast Asia and Indian expatriates. The business currently employs about 90 private bankers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

A global sell-off in markets over the past year has battered investor confidence, leading to sharply lower transaction fees and revenue at private banks globally.

Nomura, which is outside the top-20 ranks of private banks in Asia, has been beefing up the number of its wealth advisers, and expanding its products, spearheaded by Singapore-based veteran private banker Ravi Raju, who joined the group in 2020.

Raju told Reuters that the Dubai branch aims to start off with five to 10 relationship managers in the first 12 months.

Since Nomura’s wealth management business ex-Japan was repositioned as the international wealth management unit in September 2020, it said it has opened a record 1,000 new client accounts and added more than $5.5 billion in net new money.