Nomura Weighs Sale of Laser Digital After 7.4 Billion Yen European Loss

Key Facts

Nomura Holdings is considering selling its digital assets subsidiary Laser Digital and has held preliminary talks with potential buyers, including Marex Group, Investing.com reported, citing Bloomberg on November 12, 2026. The discussions have not reached a final decision, and Nomura may choose to retain the subsidiary or pursue a sale to another buyer. The sale review comes as the group’s European business faces consecutive quarterly losses, although its loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, narrowed from the previous quarter. By contrast, Nomura’s US depositary receipts rose after the report, putting news of the potential deal at the forefront of the stock’s movement on Wednesday, November 11. For now, the deal remains under consideration, not an announced agreement or a completed sale.

Nomura’s European business posted a pretax loss of 7.4 billion yen in the September quarter, according to a company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission; it was the fourth consecutive quarterly loss, Bloomberg coverage said. Still, the figure improved from a loss of 13.8 billion yen in the previous quarter ended in June 2026, meaning the deficit narrowed quarter on quarter. The improvement puts Europe’s loss in the broader context of continued pressure on the unit, as results did not turn profitable across the four consecutive quarters covered by the report. The cited filing does not specify the cause of the European loss, so it cannot be attributed to any particular factor. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026/27, Nomura’s pretax income fell 30% from the previous quarter to 148.0 billion yen, but remained 8% above its level a year earlier, according to the company’s results.

At the group level, net income attributable to shareholders rose 27% year on year to 249.3 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2026/27, while annualized return on equity was 13.3%, according to Nomura’s results. These figures present a broader financial picture than Europe’s losses, with net income continuing to grow year on year despite the quarter-on-quarter decline in pretax income in the second quarter. Against the backdrop of risk management, the company’s chief financial officer said Nomura had reduced “the absolute level of risk in market-making activities.” Speaking about the future, the CFO added that the development of asset management could help the group manage capital more effectively. These company-wide indicators remain separate from the result of the European business and the potential decision on Laser Digital.

Nomura described Laser Digital’s activities as including trading, asset management, solutions and early-stage investing, in a definition published by its Japanese unit. The group announced on September 21, 2022, that it had named its new digital assets business Laser Digital and established the holding company Laser Digital Holdings in Switzerland. Nomura said at the time that these services were intended to add value for clients in digital assets. The unit’s background shows that the business was designed to cover multiple areas, not trading alone, while the current sale review concerns the subsidiary as a whole, according to the report citing Bloomberg. Nomura also said on an earlier results call that Laser Digital had posted losses in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year, and that the effect of the crypto market’s decline in the fourth quarter on the group’s consolidated results was limited.

The sale review coincides with Laser Digital’s regulatory expansion in Japan. After completing its registration there, the company said the timing and details of the start of services “will be announced at a later date.” This indicates that the Japanese unit received regulatory approval to provide crypto-asset services to institutions, but the licensing announcement did not include a launch date or detailed scope. The move puts the Japanese business alongside the possibility of a change in ownership, without resolving whether the licensed expansion will continue under Nomura’s ownership or that of a potential buyer. The company’s available statements did not provide details on the fate of its Japan operations if a sale is completed. The confirmed information about the next step, therefore, is that the company will announce the timing and details of the services after registration.

Nomura’s US depositary receipts rose 2.3% on Wednesday, November 11, after Bloomberg reported on the potential sale, according to Investing.com coverage. EL7 data showed Nomura’s depositary receipts closed at $9.69 that day. The move came after the report emerged, while the available data did not include a verified closing price for Marex shares. No agreement with Marex has been announced, as it remains among the potential buyers named in the preliminary talks. The next step will depend on Nomura’s decision on whether to retain Laser Digital or continue exploring a sale, and on what the company later announces about the start and details of its Japanese services.