(Bloomberg) -- Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s quarterly profit more than doubled, driven by a surge in trading for Japan’s second-largest brokerage as the country’s benchmark stock index hit a record in the period. Most Read from BloombergMalaysia in Talks With Tycoons on Casino to Revive $100 Billion Forest CityBiden’s Gains Against Trump Vanish on Deep Economic Pessimism, Poll ShowsUS Economy Slows and Inflation Jumps, Damping Soft-Landing HopesZuckerberg Asks for Patience as Meta’s AI Push Spo
The Bank of Japan will pull the plug on its eight-year negative interest rate policy in April, according to more than 80% of economists polled by Reuters, marking a long-awaited major shift from a global outlier central bank. Nearly the same proportion of economists, 76%, also expect the BOJ to scrap yield curve control at that meeting, with almost all saying ultra-loose monetary conditions will end then, just months before many major central banks are expected to start cutting rates. The BOJ is on track to end negative interest rates in coming months despite Japan's economy slipping into a recession, sources have previously told Reuters.
Daiwa Securities Group plans to go on an offensive to hire M&A bankers as a global dealmaking lull allows the major Japanese investment bank to tap top-notch talent, its CEO said. "Now is our chance, as the M&A (merger and acquisition) market remains battered and many talented bankers have been up for a hunt," Seiji Nakata, CEO of Japan's second-largest brokerage and investment bank, told Reuters in an interview. Daiwa has set a target of increasing M&A revenue by 50% to at least 70 billion yen ($489.85 million) and the number of M&A bankers to 900 over the next eight years from nearly 700 now.