Goldman Sachs Group has hired former Bank of Japan chief economist Akira Otani, bolstering its research team as global investors pay increasing attention to the Asian country and its exit from years of monetary stimulus.
Otani has joined the Wall Street bank’s securities arm in Tokyo as senior Japan economic adviser and managing director, according to a statement Tuesday. His hiring came months after the company’s former chief Japan economist Naohiko Baba joined Barclays.
Japan has come under the international spotlight as it gets closer to overcoming decades of deflation while accelerating overhauls to bolster corporate profit. Economists are debating when the central bank will next raise interest rates, after scrapping its negative-rate policy in March. Otani has more than 30 years of experience as an economist and holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Rochester.
Otani had most recently served as the BOJ’s chief economist as well as director-general of its Research and Statistics Department. He headed the Financial Markets Department before that, overseeing bond purchases and other market operations.
"Otani-san’s extensive experience and deep insight into the Japanese economy will be an invaluable resource for our clients at a time when global investors are focused on the BOJ and its path towards monetary policy normalization,” Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs’s chief economist and head of global investment research, said in the release.
Goldman Sachs led major investment banks posting higher profits in the country last year as bond trading boomed, offering a cushion in an otherwise tough environment globally. Net income at Goldman Sachs Japan rose to ¥39.2 billion ($244 million), the highest in 14 years, according to its annual filing.