In this first installment of a three-part series delving into Nomura Report 2024, our Group CEO Okuda explains the background and significance of our Nomura Group Purpose.

What is Nomura’s Group Purpose?

Our Purpose is:

“We aspire to create a better world by harnessing the power of financial markets”

Tell us how the Group Purpose was decided.

Companies around the world are increasingly being questioned about their reason for being. It is important they consider this as they scale up and generate profits to continue to exist.


That alone is not enough. Employees must also ask themselves why they work at the company. Our purpose journey started by asking questions about why we are relied on by society and thinking about what role we intend to play.


Nomura turns 100 in December 2025. I want to make this milestone an important occasion for us to show our gratitude to our clients and other stakeholders who have supported us over the years. I also wanted to have our people think about their own purpose, why they work at Nomura and what they want to achieve with us.


As part of our activities in the lead up to our 100th anniversary, we launched the Nomura Purpose Journey project in 2021. The aim of the project was not to come up with a purpose statement. It was to make each employee think about their own personal purpose and discuss with their teams, managers, and colleagues. Over 10,000 people globally participated in various programs, giving them the opportunity to discover new things about themselves.

Can you tell us more about the Group Purpose?

Our Purpose has three elements: Where do we find value, how can we contribute, and what role can we play?


Enriching society
In 2017, we defined our Mission as: “We help enrich society through our expertise in capital markets.” We believe there is value in enriching society, not only economically but also to improve people’s wellbeing and the environment. A world where everyone is happy requires a personal touch adapted to the needs of each person. That is why we aim to provide products and services personally tailored just for our clients.


Contributing to social and economic growth
Our business is broader than just the securities business. We operate across the financial and capital markets.


The role of financial institutions is to make people’s lives better and contribute to social and economic development. We do this through the capital markets by connecting investors who supply funds to corporates and others who require funding.


We supply liquidity and support the flow of risk capital throughout the economy. This helps companies invest for growth and return the fruits of their success to investors who can build up their assets and reach for a better life. This in turn drives economic growth and advances society as a whole.


Creating a better world
Two of the three elements of our Purpose were already included in our Mission.


The last one, what role can we play, means what can we do to create a better world. The answer is to move forward together with our clients and other stakeholders to help them achieve their aspirations and make things better.


This is equally important internally. We will support our people as they work towards achieving their aspirations. The whole Nomura Group will continue to take on new challenges to move closer to our ideal state.

What is the significance of the Group Purpose?

Now that our Purpose is defined, we have to work even harder to embed it across the firm and put it into action to deliver results. We will work together with people who share our Purpose as we aim to achieve our targets.


By understanding their own personal purpose based on the Group’s Purpose, our people will be able to answer the question of why the work they do is important. That should boost motivation and help them grow as they bring their own personal touch to the work they do and deliver higher added value for our clients.

What is your management vision for the future?

Our management vision for 2030 is “Reaching for Sustainable Growth.”

In light of this Group Purpose, as we head to 2030, we aim to consistently achieve ROE of 8 to 10% or more and income before income taxes of 500 billion yen, which is roughly double the 273.9 billion yen we booked in the year ended March 2024.


Our strategy of expanding into private markets to supplement our public businesses remains unchanged as we work towards achieving these targets.


The path towards achieving our targets is clear: We will focus on further developing our global strategy, leveraging our Japan franchise. We will continue to increase stable revenues. Our business divisions will collaborate closely as they implement their own growth strategies. We will invest in new areas of growth and deliver value to address social issues. These efforts will help drive top line growth while we manage our cost base and allocate capital effectively to improve our earnings structure.


As we steadily grow businesses that generate stable revenues and capital-light businesses, Wholesale, which uses the most capital, will take a self-funding approach. The capital that becomes available through this will be redirected to new growth areas such as the Investment Management and Trust Banking businesses with the aim of boosting overall Group revenues.


To achieve a jump in ROE and income before income taxes, we will direct our efforts to continuously grow revenues from both capital-light and capital-intensive businesses.

What has remained important since the founding of the company?

New challenges and constant change have always been an integral part of who we are at Nomura.

Nomura Securities came to life in 1925 with only 84 people. Now, we operate across approximately 30 countries and regions with a global team of 27,000 from 90 nationalities. That remarkable growth is the result of responding to the trust our clients place in us and because we have remained an essential part of society.


Nomura is what it is today because we have relentlessly pursued new challenges and constantly evolved. Our founder once said: “Always strive to stay one step ahead. Standing still is retrogressive.”


No one can accurately predict how the world will change. People become worried because they think it won’t change. That is why it is important to accept change and take the initiative to change yourself. If you stick to the same way of doing things, you will miss precious opportunities.

Naturally, change brings uncertainty. And standing up to that takes bravery. Being brave to take on a challenge no one has done before has been ingrained in Nomura’s DNA since our founding.


Since taking over as Group CEO in April 2020, I have transformed how we do business and our various systems, including human resources. I feel within the Group we have further developed our culture of creating change and taking on new challenges.


The current focus on Japan is an exciting opportunity for Nomura. By fully leveraging our global franchise and stepping it up a notch, we can deliver steady results and achieve sustainable growth.


We will put our Purpose into action as part of our business management to continue working towards achieving our targets.


Each of us at Nomura will work even harder to meet the expectations of our shareholders, clients, and other stakeholders.