Goldman cuts back prime brokerage in Japan 16 July 2012Tokyo Reporter: Georgina Lavers
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Goldman Sachs is paring down their Japanese prime brokerage business after the planned exit of unit head Toru Okabe.
Okabe will leave the bank by the end of the month, after working in Goldman's prime brokerage section since 2000. He joined Goldman in 1997 from Nomura Securities, and was appointed managing director of the global securities service section of Goldman Japan in 2004.
An unspecified number of staff and operations will be shifted to Hong Kong, as the bank focuses its prime brokerage efforts there.
Goldman also moved its Japanese stock lending desk from Tokyo to Hong Kong in May, and plans to move its annual Asian hedge fund conference from Tokyo to Singapore.
The shift away from Japan is though to be due to continued deflation in the economy, as well as a drop in the local stock market. Asiahedge had previously reported Goldman as Japan's largest prime broker, with 17 mandates and $2.7 billion in assets.
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