Nomura’s strengths in pockets of fixed income trading and its efforts to build deep relationships with a diverse range of leading debt investors around the world have yet to translate into the kind of distribution that wins big fees from the debt capital markets. The firm lacks the balance-sheet size of a global universal bank and has to pick its spots accordingly.
Nomura was ranked 10th in the US DCM bookrunner league tables for full year 2016 with 2.9% market share and stood 11th with 2.4% market share for 2017 in the year to May 3. In Asia Pacific, its home region, Nomura ranks ninth for the full year 2016 (2.3% market share) and seventh for 2017 (2.4%), while in Europe its position over the same two periods is 21st (1.4% market share) and 24th (1.2%). Globally, Nomura ranked 12th in the overall DCM bookrunner ranking for 2016 with a 2.1% market share, but the firm stands at just 16th with a 1.8% market share for 2017 up to May 3.
Asia-Pacific and US DCM business is clearly more important than the European footprint, a sign of how carefully the bank has to approach this traditionally balance sheet-heavy sector of investment banking.
