Euromoney: What was the basic problem at Nomura that caused the scandal?
Ujiie: There was a big gap between what society thinks ethical and what our corporate culture thought ethical. This gap has to be eliminated. By far the most important task for the new management team is to straighten up our ethical standards.
There was something fundamentally wrong with Nomura's culture?
I think so. Otherwise, this kind of [scandal] would not have been repeated. Investment banking, to my mind, is a gentlemen's business. Ethical standards therefore must be stricter than in any other industry.
How will you change the culture?
First, we have to have open discussions in any meeting, including the board, the compliance committee and so forth. Discussion wasn't frank in the past. We have to make these important decision-making processes open, transparent and free. With transparency we can allow different viewpoints into this organization to provide a good system of checks and balances. In American terminology, it's a sunshine operation. The best way to solve a problem is to let light in on it.