Nomura today unveiled a restructuring of its equities franchise that will see its subsidiary agency brokerage Instinet become the bank's execution services arm.

The announcement ends nearly two years of speculation regarding the future of the Instinet franchise within the broader Nomura group, and highlights a broader industry-wide structural shift within the equities market. It also comes as the Japanese investment bank looks to strip some $1bn of costs out of its faltering overseas franchise.