Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage and investment bank, said it plans to more than double annual revenue in Asian markets outside Japan to JPY100 billion ($925 million) in five years to catch up with Western banks in the region. Nomura said at a media briefing that focus areas would include the management of sovereign wealth fund money, targeting of high net worth clients, marketing bonds in local currencies and investing in real estate and infrastructure projects. According to Reuters, Nomura had booked only JPY24.9 billion in net revenues in the region in the year that ended in March 2007, which accounted for just 2 per cent of overall net revenue. In the first half of the current year to September, it booked revenue of JPY22.8 billion. Swiis bank UBS, by comparison, ranked first in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan with $905 million in investment banking fees last year, according to data from Thomson Financial. Nomura was in 34th position with less than $38 million in fees. "The reality is that we have not reached the level of the major Western investment banks. And from that perspective we face a long road ahead," said Yoshinori Go, Nomura's head of marketing for the Asia region. Nomura established its first office in Asia outside Japan in Hong Kong in 1967, which now serves as its headquarters for the Asia and Oceania region ex-Japan. It has offices in 12 major cities and around 1,400 employees including affiliates.