RBS Abandons Japanese Bond Trading, Cuts 200 Jobs; Stocks, USDJPY, JGB Yields Are Re-Plunging

 

The Nikkei 225 has fallen over 300 points from the v-shaped recovery close at the end of the US day session and is now trading below the lows of the day at 2-week lows. USDJPY has plunged over 100 pips having briefly neared 120.00, now back below 119.00. JGB Futures are trading near record highs prices as yields collapse to near-record lows (30Y -23bps since QQE, 20Y -15bps) only seen during last year’s yield-crash. No surprise then with the bond market “dead” according to market participants and yields negligible, that RBS has decided to exit the Japanese fixed-income business, slashing 200 jobs, and surrendering its primary bond dealership.

Japanese consumer confidence missed once again, tumbling to 7 month lows (near 3 year lows) and business confidence missed expectations.

Japanese stocks have given up all the US day session v-shaped recovery gains and USDJPY is back under 119…

Yields are in freefall…

And entirely illiquid, which has led to this:

• *RBS SAID TO EXIT JAPAN FIXED-INCOME TRADING AS IT CUTS 200 JOBS
• *RBS SAID TO CUT MOST OF JAPAN JOBS BY FEBRUARY
• *RBS SAID TO PLAN TO SURRENDER PRIMARY BOND DEALERSHIP IN JAPAN

As Bloomberg reports,

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc will pull out of fixed-income trading in Japan and slash staff numbers by more than 200 to about 30, with most of the jobs going by February, according to a person familiar with the plan.

RBS Securities Japan Ltd. would surrender its primary dealership in the country’s government bond market and retain only enough people to service clients, said two people familiar with the proposal, who didn’t want to be named because the details aren’t public.

RBS’s loss in the 12 months to March widened by 78 percent to 5.7 billion yen, the filings show.

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Of course this should come as no surprise given the BoJ’s dominance and our recent discussions of the JGB market being – for all intents and purpose – “dead”…