Nomura’s Japan staff to get bigger raises as inflation quickens

NOMURA Holdings will give its employees in Japan bigger pay raises starting in April, citing intensifying competition for talent and faster inflation. 

Employees excluding executives will get a slightly larger raise than the roughly 3 per cent average of the past few years, Japan’s largest brokerage said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 7). 

A growing number of Japanese firms have signalled plans to raise wages following government requests to help workers cope with the highest inflation since 1981. Sustained pay rises may prompt the Bank of Japan to shift away from its long-standing ultra-easy monetary policy. 

Nomura employees who are in their 20s and 30s and hold non-managerial jobs will receive a slightly higher raise than the 6.2 per cent average over recent years, the company said. The figure is about base salary and performance and promotion-related gains, and excludes bonuses and allowances. The firm employs just over 15,000 in Japan. 

Japan’s nominal wages are increasing at the sharpest pace since the late 1990s, something new to many after years of deflation. Even struggling regional banks are under pressure to hike salaries as the nation’s financial regulator urges them to invest in talent, according to people familiar with the matter.

Global investors are paying close attention to Japan’s annual wage talks because they could help to persuade the central bank to tighten the monetary spigot once Governor Haruhiko Kuroda steps down in April. The Bank of Japan’s surprise widening of a bond yield cap in December fuelled speculation for a policy shift. 

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Among others in the financial sector, Dai-ichi Life Insurance plans to raise wages by an average 5 per cent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will boost starting salaries for university graduates by 24 per cent, the Nikkei reported. BLOOMBERG