Mizuho Banker Who Once Led Equity Hiring Binge Is Leaving Firm

A Mizuho Financial Group Inc. banker who once led an aggressive push to challenge Nomura Holdings Inc. in equity business is leaving the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

(Bloomberg) — A Mizuho Financial Group Inc. banker who once led an aggressive push to challenge Nomura Holdings Inc. in equity business is leaving the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Yohei Osade, a senior managing director and global head of private capital markets at the Japanese lender’s Mizuho Securities Co. unit, is set to quit the firm by the end of the month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Toshimitsu Okano, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Mizuho Securities, declined to comment.

Mizuho Securities went on a hiring binge several years ago when Osade was global head of Asian equities, recruiting dozens from Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and others to strengthen its stock business including sales and research. The Tokyo-based brokerage was then aiming to overtake Nomura as the country’s largest equity firm, according to a 2016 interview with Osade.

But the company reversed course in later years as an economic slowdown and other headwinds weighed on Mizuho’s profit. Roughly 10 employees from the equity division, including senior staff, left the broker in 2019 as it scaled back the operation.

More recently, Norikazu Akedo, who used to oversee Mizuho Securities’ equity team as joint head of global markets, left to join Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s securities arm.

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