High-Stakes Heist: Former Nomura Securities Employee, 29, Suspected in Daring Hiroshima Robbery Attempt

Kyodo News reported on the 31st, based on interviews with investigators, that a 29-year-old man arrested on charges of attempted robbery, murder and arson of a residential building was an employee of Nomura Securities at the time of the incident.

According to the report, on July 28, the suspect invited a couple in their eighties from Hiroshima City, who were customers of his business, to have a meal at the couple’s home, and apparently mixed a drug with a soporific effect into the body. meal. While unconscious, he is believed to have set fire to the house and stole approximately 26 million yen in cash.

In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, a spokesperson for Nomura Holdings confirmed that the man was a former employee and said he had already been fired. He further commented that it is extremely regrettable that a former employee has been arrested. He declined to comment on the timing or reason for the disciplinary dismissal.

Nomura HD has strengthened its domestic retail business by targeting wealthy individuals, and as a result, the business is starting to take off. An incident involving a former sales employee could cause customers to leave the company, potentially impacting the company’s bottom line.

Nomura Securities sign (Tokyo, 30)

Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Bloomberg Intelligence’s Hideyasu Ban points out that Nomura Securities’ reputational risk is inevitable. “If an employee causes an incident like this, it creates a sense of anxiety among customers,” he said, indicating that the company needs to focus on how quickly the anxiety can be eased.

Morningstar analyst Michael McDad said that while the incident was due to the actions of a single employee and the company should not be held responsible, it was a “fairly serious incident” that damaged Nomura’s social reputation Ta.

In 2019, a former employee of Nomura Securities’ Himeji branch was arrested on charges of fraud by pitching fictitious investment products to multiple investors, including Nomura Securities clients. Additionally, in the same year, two employees of the same company were arrested on charges of making a woman drink a large amount of alcohol, putting her in a coma, and then sexually assaulting her.

On the 31st, eight executives of Nomura Securities, including Chairman Kentaro Okuda, announced that they would voluntarily return part of their executive compensation in response to the issue of government bond market manipulation.