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Japanese bank Nomura has narrowed down its hunt for a post-Brexit European subsidiary, with Frankfurt reportedly emerging as the frontrunner in the latest vote of confidence in the German financial hub.

Nomura serves the bulk of its European clients through its regional head offices in London, but the Press Association has reported that it is considering fully licensing operations in Frankfurt – where it already has a branch – to continue accessing the EU’s single market after Brexit.

It means the bank may be joining Japanese firm Daiwa, which is also understood to be finalising plans for a new European base in Frankfurt.

A Nomura spokesman said no final decision had been made.

IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan told the Irish Independent earlier this year that Japanese financial services firms had expressed “a lot of interest” in Ireland in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The agency has been engaging with Japanese investors in both London and Tokyo to encourage them to locate operations here.

A move by Nomura and Daiwa to Germany would be another blow to Dublin’s post-Brexit ambitions just weeks after insurer AIG announced it was setting up an operation in Luxembourg. Former Department of Finance secretary general John Moran had worked for Nomura, though not as an employee.

However, he told the Irish Independent yesterday that he is no longer working with the investment giant. He said he had introduced executives to some local law firms, but had not been involved with their Brexit considerations. He stopped working with them at the end of February. The bank has around 3,000 staff across its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations – 2,500 based in London.

Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of Irish companies quizzed for a survey by Irishjobs.ie have no dedicated team in place to respond to Brexit. More than 40pc admitted they haven’t carried out any assessment of the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU.

The online survey was carried out among 87 HR managers in both SMEs and larger companies across the private and public sectors. (Additional reporting Press Association)
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