<p>The brokerage arm of Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc will send new-graduate employees to work at its call centre for their first year to expose them to dealing with customers over the phone, two people familiar with the matter said.</p>.<p>The move is Nomura's latest pivot from a traditional emphasis on face-to-face sales, which have been under pressure since before the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the rise in popularity of online brokerages.</p>.<p>Nomura Securities, the country's largest brokerage, will send almost all of its 350 new-graduate hires to work at the call centre after they join the company in April, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is not public.</p>.<p>"Given we have fewer chances to meet customers directly, new graduates will be able to get experience by hearing a lot of customers' voices at the call centre," one of them said.</p>.<p>Nomura declined to comment.</p>.<p>Nomura would be Japan's first major brokerage to make such a change.</p>.<p>Japan's biggest corporations traditionally hire new graduates all at once each year to replace retiring employees. New graduates tend to be rotated between departments during their first few years.</p>.<p>At Nomura, many new hires spend their first years working in a branch, learning the "shoe-leather" sales culture of going out, meeting customers and trying to sell investment products.</p>.<p>That face-to-face business model and Nomura's 7,000-strong sales force have been under threat from retail brokerages. Top online brokerage SBI Holdings Inc in March surpassed Nomura for the first time in the number of accounts.</p>.<p>Nomura last year said it aimed to strengthen its channels of contact with customers by building up its online service as well as the call centre.</p>.<p>Still, a year-long stint in a call centre may not be attractive to recent graduates expecting a high-flying career in financial services, said the second person.</p>.<p>"Their image of working at a brokerage may not match with working at a call centre."</p>
<p>The brokerage arm of Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc will send new-graduate employees to work at its call centre for their first year to expose them to dealing with customers over the phone, two people familiar with the matter said.</p>.<p>The move is Nomura's latest pivot from a traditional emphasis on face-to-face sales, which have been under pressure since before the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the rise in popularity of online brokerages.</p>.<p>Nomura Securities, the country's largest brokerage, will send almost all of its 350 new-graduate hires to work at the call centre after they join the company in April, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is not public.</p>.<p>"Given we have fewer chances to meet customers directly, new graduates will be able to get experience by hearing a lot of customers' voices at the call centre," one of them said.</p>.<p>Nomura declined to comment.</p>.<p>Nomura would be Japan's first major brokerage to make such a change.</p>.<p>Japan's biggest corporations traditionally hire new graduates all at once each year to replace retiring employees. New graduates tend to be rotated between departments during their first few years.</p>.<p>At Nomura, many new hires spend their first years working in a branch, learning the "shoe-leather" sales culture of going out, meeting customers and trying to sell investment products.</p>.<p>That face-to-face business model and Nomura's 7,000-strong sales force have been under threat from retail brokerages. Top online brokerage SBI Holdings Inc in March surpassed Nomura for the first time in the number of accounts.</p>.<p>Nomura last year said it aimed to strengthen its channels of contact with customers by building up its online service as well as the call centre.</p>.<p>Still, a year-long stint in a call centre may not be attractive to recent graduates expecting a high-flying career in financial services, said the second person.</p>.<p>"Their image of working at a brokerage may not match with working at a call centre."</p>