TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - French investment bank Natixis said on Monday it had hired five senior bankers in Japan, becoming the latest of foreign financial firms to beef up operations there as the prospects of a rate policy pivot start to spur business in the country.

New hires made in the last four months for its global markets team in Tokyo include Hidetomo Kurachi as head of cross asset solutions sales, Tomokazu Matsuo, as head of equity financial engineering, Tetsuya Onishi as head of global securities financing solution marketing and fixed income financial engineering, the bank said in a statement.

Kurachi joined from Societe Generale, Matsuo from Credit Suisse and Onishi from BNP Paribas, according to their LinkedIn profile pages.

The new appointments come amid hopes that emerging signs of sticky inflation will prompt Japanese companies and households to shift dormant assets into high-yielding investment products after years of deflation.

The government also is also working to improve Tokyo's standing as an international finance hub, addressing some of the hurdles that made it less attractive than Hong Kong or Singapore, at a time when the overall Asia Pacific region slows amid weaker economy.

Natixis, part of French financial group BPCE, offers in Japan structured products based on equity, foreign exchange, credit, and infrastructure real assets, as well as financing solutions using stock derivative products.

"We strive to constantly enhance our product offering and reach for both Japanese and international clients," Makito Nagahiro, Natixis' senior country manager, said.

Natixis also said it has hired nine senor bankers in the past year for other Asia-Pacific global markets teams in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Shimizu in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Rashmi Aich)