Bank also implementing 'more rigorous, effective measures' to deter employee misconduct
Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda is taking a voluntary pay cut after a former employee of the firm was arrested on suspicion of robbery, arson, and attempted murder of a client.
Okuda, along with other executives of the Japanese firm, will be voluntarily returning 30% of their pay for three months, according to the bank.
"We would like to express our heartfelt sympathy and apologise to our clients who suffered because of this incident. We also apologise to all those affected by the trouble it is causing," the bank said in a statement.
Former Nomura employee's arrest
The move comes after a former employee of Nomura Securities was arrested on 30 October on suspicion of "robbery, attempted murder, and arson of an inhabited building."
The police suspected that the former Nomura employee was involved in a fire that occurred at a client's home, and that he stole money from the clients when he visited their home in July.
"After we learned about the incident, we immediately began contacting the former employee's clients and launched an investigation into other possible incidents," the bank said.
"In accordance with internal regulations, the former employee was subject to disciplinary dismissal on Sunday, 4 August 2024."
The bank added that relevant managers also received strict disciplinary action in accordance with their internal rules and regulations.
"We take this matter very seriously. An incident like this must never happen at a financial institution entrusted with looking after its clients' assets," the bank said in a statement.
More rigorous, effective measures set
To restore their clients' confidence, the bank said it is implementing "more rigorous and effective measures" to deter individual employee misconduct.
Among these measures is beefing up monitoring of employees' business activities, primarily those who have direct contact with clients.
"We will strictly manage activity schedules during work hours, as well as use data from company mobile phones, dashboard cameras, etc.," the bank said. "This will enable us to stringently manage client visits and meetings and increase our ability to detect suspicious conduct."
It will also introduce "block leave" or a mandatory period of continuous leave annually in order to detect potential wrongdoing, according to the bank.
It added that it will hold one-on-one meetings with employees, revise its employee evaluations, carry out training in compliance and professional ethics, and enhance communication among staff.
"In light of this incident, we will implement the following response measures to strengthen current measures to enable early detection of misconduct and manage employees' actions," the bank said.
