Pros
This review is for Nippon Life Global Investors Americas. The Good: - Good work life balance with friendly and welcoming colleagues, both the local hires and expats from Tokyo (for the most part). There will be a handful of early morning/ evening calls with the Tokyo and/or London teams per month (depending on the team), but they are manageable. - The company under the current President/CEO and senior expats management team (typically on a three-five year rotation) are implementing several monumental changes (rare for a traditional Japanese company) to modernize the corporate structure and for better senior level talent retention. - Stable company is growing AUM as the parent company (Nippon Life Insurance Company) continues to allocate capital for deployment. - Great industry/ asset class exposure for an entry level person. A good seat for individuals who are seeking for a stable role with minimal upside (career progression and earning) potential.
Cons
Now the Bad. The Bad: - This will largely be depending on the team that the candidate is interviewing for. Certain Group Head can appear to be friendly during the interview process and true color will reveal later on. Definitely do your research (life is too short). -Generally, across the asset classes and various functional groups, the team size is lean. Definitely be prepared for that, especially for the relatively senior level candidates. -Broadly, the company's compensation for investment professionals and analysts is below market in comparison to other investment management firms that are owned by insurance companies. - The bottom line, the source of capital is from a life insurance company which is, generally, more risk averse. The company does not invest and will not invest in riskier, higher octane strategies across the broad (equities, fixed income, private equity, private debt, and real asset). IG fixed income will remain a dominant asset class for the company. -It's a heavy process driven place; many layers of approval needed.