Banking system or welfare state?
"It's a huge challenge," says Ronald Strauss, the president of Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, "I love it and Merrill Lynch loves it." The task is to train the bank's 2,100 ex-Yamaichi staff in the Merrill way. "I don't want to say 'indoctrinate'," smiles Strauss. "Actually, I will say indoctrinate."
The intake, says Strauss, is a standard bell curve in terms of ability. There is one story that a Yamaichi staffer was being shown the basics of using a PC. He was asked if he knew how to use a mouse, to which he nodded. He was then asked to move the mouse around the screen. At this point he picked up the mouse and planted it on the screen, and started to move it. "I'm sure it happened," laughs Strauss who has clearly recognized at an early stage that you need a sense of humour for this task. "We've given them all a PC each."
The man who is directly in charge of the "indoctrination" is director of training Satoru Ohyama. He joined Merrill in 1988 and spent time in investment banking, rising to be head of corporate, institutional and structured finance.