Japanese securities giant Nomura plans to hire 10 bankers for its wealth management operations in Asia and the Middle East as the number of highly affluent people in these regions continues to grow, according to Nomura International (Hong Kong) co-president Kunio Watanabe in an interview with Bloomberg in Singapore. Mr Watanabe said: “US and European banks are putting their feet down in Asia and the Middle East, where the number of high net worth individuals has been growing rapidly. We want to be competitive in the region as lots of these clients are involved in business with Japanese companies." He also said that Nomura is seeking a greater share of the market providing financial services to clients who have assets in excess of $5 million.