Fidelity moves traders to Tokyo

Fidelity will move its Japanese equity-trading desk to Hong Kong from Tokyo, published reports said. The Boston-based U.S. asset management company that it will shift seven Japanese equity traders to Hong Kong by the end of the year in order to help it consolidate Asian trading operations with its 10 other regional trading desks in the area. Fidelity’s exit raises concerns among Japanese authorities that the country is losing business to other Asian locales, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, where regulations aren’t as tight and taxes are lower reports said. Yuji Yamamoto, Japan’s minister for financial services, recently said that he would bring back Tokyo’s status as an international financial center by building a business district similar to London’s Canary Wharf, reports said. He also proposed easing financial regulations to attract foreign hedge funds and investment managers to Tokyo, according to Reuters.