Standard Chartered has opened its first brokerage business in Japan. The unit currently has 100 employees. The bank will deploy 20 salesmen to meet with Japanese life insurers, brokerages, banks and asset managers to sell products that invest in developing countries with potential for fast economic growth, Standard Chartered Securities (Japan) president Taisei Takegami said. All of the people in the unit already work for Standard Chartered’s corporate banking arm in Japan and will perform dual roles, he said. The unit will also start an investment-banking business that would advise local corporate clients and financial firms to raise funds in capital markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Takegami said.
