PEOPLE - Hold The Wallet

People often ask Joe Schmuckler if he regrets leaving his perch as a partner and rising star at Kidder Peabody to join Nomura Securities in 1990, at the beginning of a long, hard decline for the Japanese markets.

People often ask Joe Schmuckler if he regrets leaving his perch as a partner and rising star at Kidder Peabody to join Nomura Securities in 1990, at the beginning of a long, hard decline for the Japanese markets. “I made a good move,” he tells them. “The changes in Japan presented a challenge, but I learned a lot, and I made a lot of friends.”

The decision also positioned him for his most recent career move -- becoming co-head of international operations for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. He is the first non-Japanese native to occupy such a high post at the firm. His mandate: Build operations in the U.S. and elsewhere outside Japan by leveraging parent bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s vast lending relationships. It’s a task he’ll approach carefully.

“I will not just be the latest guy to come into a foreign organization with a checkbook who’s just going to start hiring people,” says Schmuckler. “It’s a very insincere way of doing business, and it’s not realistic.”

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