Flight attendants and TV producers seeking a career change might want to look up Japan’s third-biggest bank.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc wants the hospitality and media veterans to woo investors and company executives with their strong communication and social skills, said Yuki Maeda, head of corporate access across Asia.
It is to recruit three people by March who would put institutional clients in touch with Japanese business leaders through conference calls and face-to-face meetings, she said.
Photo: Reuters
The move is part of Mizuho’s efforts to bolster its corporate access services after it began billing for them following the introduction of new European rules known as MiFID II — short for the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.
The regulations, which require securities firms to separate those charges from equity research and trading, have put an onus on banks to beef up their matchmaker role for fund managers that want to meet with company executives to get information on their strategies.
While bankers and analysts already have connections with top executives at Japanese firms, the corporate access staff are responsible for organizing events and meetings that bring them together with investors.
“Cabin attendants have good hospitality and English skills,” Maeda said. “We want multitaskers who can convince top company executives, government officials and university professors to meet with global investors or speak at conferences.”
Figures from Mizuho suggest that clients are willing to pay for such access at a time when investor interest in the Japanese market remains relatively high.
Requests for meetings with Japanese company executives increased 12 percent in the year ended that on Sept. 30.
Still, because MiFID II is making it clearer to institutional investors how much they are paying for events, some are asking themselves whether it is always justified, Maeda said.
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