Nomura inks equity trading, research pact with Indonesia's Verdhana

[HONG KONG] Nomura Holdings, Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank, said on Monday it had partnered with Indonesian brokerage Verdhana to increase its equity trading and research coverage in the South-east Asian nation.

Under the agreement, which is subject to local regulatory approval, Verdhana will provide Nomura with research coverage on more than 50 local stocks, the Japanese bank said.

Instinet, Nomura's equities trading arm, will also use the Indonesian company as its onshore brokerage and route all local market trading orders through it.

"Nomura's international clients will benefit from the enhanced research coverage of Indonesian stocks," said Rig Karkhanis, Nomura's deputy head of global markets and head of global markets in Asia excluding Japan.

Globally, investment banks are increasingly looking for partnerships to boost company research coverage amid growing costs of operating a hugely competitive equity business as a result of a regulatory-driven shake-up.

BNP Paribas in July last year said it would source the bulk of its Asia Pacific equity research from independent research provider Morningstar.

In December 2016, Societe Generale announced a tie-up with Singapore-based Smartkarma, in a first of its kind partnership in Asia at the time, to provide third-party Asian equity research to its institutional clients.

REUTERS