Mizuho Securities to cut Japan workforce -Nikkei

TOKYO Oct 3 (Reuters) - Mizuho Securities Co, a brokerage unit of Mizuho Financial Group is expected to ask 300 workers, or 5 percent of its overall staff in Japan, to voluntarily retire this year, the Nikkei business daily reported, without citing sources.

It will cut 10 percent of its 6,300 workforce by March 2012, also helped by natural attrition as it aims to cut costs ahead of ahead of its merger with Mizuho Investors Securities, another brokerage under Mizuho Financial, the paper said.

The reduction in headcount comes amid sluggish financial markets caused by the European debt crisis, the report said.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)