(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. is looking to hire new traders in Paris as part of its strategy to expand the markets business in Europe.

The lender’s trading unit, which currently employs about 25 people in the French capital, could add about 10 more across local sales and structuring teams next year, regional head of sales Jean-Marc Alexis said Monday. The growth push will focus on fixed-income, though Nomura may also look to increase headcount in equities, he said. 

“Paris, for Nomura, has become a pillar for European growth,” Alexis said at a briefing with journalists. “A true fixed-income world has developed here.”

Nomura Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda has been looking to expand some businesses in Europe as part of an effort to revive profitability. The Tokyo-based bank bought Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s European operations after the Wall Street firm’s 2008 collapse but has struggled to generate consistent profits on the continent since then.

Okuda is making a renewed push into European stocks trading, a business Nomura largely withdrew from seven years ago, and has also hired at its currency-trading business, Bloomberg has reported. Rig Karkhanis, promoted to head of global markets earlier this year, is relocating to London from Singapore as part of the move.

In the past years, US banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have all beefed up their market operations in Paris after Brexit, making the French capital a European trading hub.

Nomura recently hired Jerome Brochard from Credit Suisse to lead quantitative investment strategies, Alexis said. A saleswoman targeting the hedge fund industry is expected to join from London next year, he said.

Banks in New York and London are struggling to attract trading talent among their ranks as hedge funds are offering much more competitive packages, Alexis said. In that context, being able to offer Paris as a work location has become an advantage to lure staff, according to Alexis.

“Paris is a place that seduces the Europeans that want to come back to Europe,” he said.

--With assistance from Donal Griffin.

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