"We will be stepping up our recruitment programme across Japan," said John Sievwright, who is also chief operating officer, after a speech in Tokyo.

The US brokerage giant shed about five per cent of its workforce last month in a global restructuring, and media reports said its retail operations in Japan were running behind schedule.

Merrill's ambitious retail operation, known as Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, has come to symbolise Japan's ongoing "Big Bang" reforms of its financial services sector. The company opened a 33-branch chain of brokerages out of the ashes of failed Yamaichi Securities.

"It is very early for us to make an evaluation," Sievwright said of the new company. "We have been satisfied with the performance."

Sievwright also said in his presentation that Merrill was pursuing three areas of growth in Japan -- institutional clients, retail clients and asset management.

He said the company envisaged strong growth in securitising non-performing assets on corporate balance sheets if tax laws were changed.

"The securitisation business is at a very early stage," he said. "We have one of these opportunities to take distressed assets off of balance sheets and place them into investors' hands."

He added that a fund of securitised assets could eventually be launched for individual investors who were willing to take the risks associated with such a product.