In the late 1990s, when Merrill Lynch bought the rump of Yamaichi, it looked to be the one foreign investment bank to have cracked the Japanese market. If, back then, you had suggested that one day Merrill would be running its Tokyo equities business from Hong Kong, there would have been people all around you reaching for strait jackets and sedatives.
Not today, since Merrill has now taken the decision to run all Asian equities from Hong Kong, including Japan and Australia. The new head of the Pacific Rim equities business will be Hong Kong-based, Simon Brookhouse. Former Japanese equities boss, Junichi Nagaya will take a sabbatical while Japanese research head, Kiyoshisha Ota will retire....
