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the reformers,” said one former Lehman
banker. “But even before Jesse resigned, I
thought the writing was on the wall and I
had decided that I had to leave.”
ALL THINGS
ûWASûANûINmECTIONûPOINTûFORû.OMURAû
In addition to Bhattal’s departure,
Watanabe was replaced by current CEO
Koji Nagai, who was viewed internally
as having a less favourable view of the
acquisition. Shortly after taking up the
helm, Nagai announced US$1bn of cuts
across investment banking and equities.
The bank made further cuts in 2016,
closing most of its equities and equity
capital market underwriting businesses
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa
and reducing other lines in the Americas
INCLUDINGûACQUISITIONûlNANCE ûNON
AGENCYû
securitised products and corporate credit.
One current Nomura banker said that
the cuts were long overdue. The bank
STILLûSTRUGGLESûTOûTURNûAûPROlTûOUTSIDEû
of Japan, posting a slight pre-tax loss of
¥0.7bn (US$6.3m) for the overseas unit in
THEûLASTûlSCALûYEARû4HEûBANKERûATTRIBUTEDû
this to the costs of supporting businesses
where Nomura has struggled to gain a
foothold.
“I think one thing that Nomura has
REALLYûlGUREDûOUTûINûRECENTûYEARSûISûYOUû
can’t be all things to all people,” the
banker said. “My impression is that
management’s approach is much more
focused now than it was immediately after
the acquisition.”
The banker pointed to its recent success
in supporting Japanese outbound activity
- Nomura advised Takeda Pharmaceuticals
on its US$62bn acquisition of Shire this
year, the largest ever overseas purchase
by a Japanese company – as an example.
Several former Nomura bankers echoed
this statement.
“What we didn’t do – and I think ECM
in Asia is a very good example of this
because it has become so competitive now- is we didn’t differentiate ourselves from
the competition,” said one former Nomura
banker.
“Nomura’s main strength is Japan
and in fact it’s far stronger in Japan
than practically any other bank is in
its domestic market. The way Nomura
could have best differentiated itself from
its competitors was by delivering the
Japanese market to international issuers.
To their credit, I think they are starting to
do that now.”
DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
The acquisition of Lehman has failed
to yield much league table credit.
According to data from Thomson Reuters,
Nomura ranked 57th last year for overall
INVESTMENTûBANKINGûFEESûINû!SIAû0ACIlCû
ex-Japan and its standing has been falling
steadily since 2008.
Its footing in EMEA has been muchlRMER ûEVENûASûITûWALKEDûAWAYûFROMûTHEû
ECM business. Last year, it was 21st for
overall IB fees, although this is a far cry
from what Watanabe probably envisaged
when he talked about a “once in a a
generation” opportunity 10 years ago.
A spokesperson for Nomura said that
the Lehman acquisition “allowed Nomura
to expand its franchise by becoming a
competitive investment bank outside its
home market”.
“Post-integration, Nomura’s wholesale
client base grew with a fourfold increase,
MARKETûSHAREûINûTHEûlXEDûINCOME ûEQUITYû
and investment banking businesses
INCREASEDûANDûTHEûlRMSûHEIGHTENEDû
INTERNATIONALûPROlLEûHELPEDûTOûATTRACTû
high-quality talent internationally,” the
spokesperson added.
There have been some pockets of
SUCCESS ûFORûEXAMPLEûINûlXEDûINCOMEû
in Asia. Nomura ranked third last year
for credit in Asia ex-Japan, according to
Coalition data. Some former Lehman
bankers have stayed with Nomura and
gone on to thrive, such as Charles Pitts-
Tucker, head of IB for EMEA and John
'OFF ûHEADûOFûCLIENTûlNANCINGûANDûSOLUTIONSû
for AEJ, but they are the exception to the
rule.
Of those that left, some former Lehman
bankers were circumspect about their role
in the integration.
“What could we have done differently? I
think we were insensitive to the Japanese
nature of the institution,” said one former
Lehman banker.
“While we were all smart enough to go
and kiss the ring at Nomura-san’s house in
+YOTO ûACTUALLY ûITûWASûALLûVERYûSUPERlCIALû
and there was never a real attempt to
understand the organisation we were
dealing with.”
THOMAS BLOTT The head of
COMMONWEALTH
BANK OF AUSTRALIA’s
funds management
business, COLONIAL
FIRST STATE GLOBAL
ASSET MANAGEMENT, is
leaving ahead of the
unit’s planned listing
next year.
Mark Lazberger steps
down after 10 years in
the job. STANDARD
CHARTERED has
picked Jiwei Ye to run
transaction banking
for China, replacing
Sam Xu, who recently
joined BNY MELLON
as China country
executive.
Ye is based in
Shanghai and reports
to David Koh, regional
head of transaction
banking for GreaterChina and North Asia,
and Jean Lu, head of
global banking for
China.
He joined StanChart
two years ago and is
currently head of cash
for China, a position
he retains following
his promotion. He
was previously with
JP Morgan for over 10
years.
Xu spent four yearswith StanChart. He
previously worked at
Deutsche Bank, JP
Morgan and Royal
Bank of Canada in
New York.
He reports to Gregory
Roath, head of global
client management
for Asia Pacific, in his
new role. He started
with BNY Mellon last
Tuesday in Shanghai.LEAGUE TABLE POSITION FOR IB FEESSource: Thomson Reuters102030405060
08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
APAC ex-Japan EMEA