TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s biggest investment bank and brokerage Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR ) recorded a 27% rise in fourth-quarter net profit as revenues grew in its investment management and wealth management businesses.
Nomura reported a profit of 72 billion yen ($501.15 million) for the January-March period, versus 56.8 billion yen in the same period a year prior.
Nomura’s investment management division reached record business revenue for a fifth consecutive quarter, but assets under management at the end of the quarter fell due to market conditions.
Recurring revenue in the wealth management division reached a record high, boosted by strong investment advisory fees.
Asset management has become a core growth area for Japanese financial institutions which are looking to secure stable fee-based revenue that is less impacted by the ups and downs of market sentiment.
Towards that end, Nomura is acquiring Australian Macquarie Group (OTC: MQBKY )’s U.S. and European public asset management businesses for $1.8 billion in cash, marking its most ambitious expansion abroad since its failed purchase of Lehman Brothers’ assets in 2008.
Income in Nomura’s wholesale division, which houses its investment banking and global markets units, grew 82% compared to the same period the previous year as equity revenues in the global markets division and investment banking revenues rose.
($1 = 143.6700 yen)