JPMorgan still top earner; Nomura fee income falls by 34%

Abigail Hofman has consistently called for Nomura to rethink its global strategy. What was behind the sudden departure of Jesse Bhattal, and what needs to happen next?

Gloom prevailed at the annual IMF meetings in Washington according to my sources. Senior bankers have now come round to the Abigail with attitude view, expressed in my July column, that frosty times lie ahead and the authorities do not have many weapons of mass optimism left.

Senior Nomura debt capital market executives say issuers must be ready to move at short notice, as well as look at alternatives.

‘Shock and awe’ proposal to recapitalize banking sector and prepare it to take losses

FX volumes executed by Japanese banks have shown a marked improvement in recent years. The biggest improvers in market share in Euromoney’s FX survey this year were Nomura and Mizuho Financial Group, registering increases of 97% and 68% respectively. That saw Nomura rise four places to 14th and Mizuho rise 11 places to 23rd. This rapid improvement is due to one dominant factor: doing more business with real money clients.

The bank has leapt 43 places in the Euromoney FX survey since 2009. It earns the title of ‘most improved market share’ after rising four places this year. Can the momentum continue? Hamish Risk finds out

Matt Koder made his name in Asia. And there have been a few personnel changes in the region that caught my eye this month. At Morgan Stanley, David Russell, head of equities in Asia, moves to London to run EMEA equities. He will be replaced by Gokul Laroia, formerly co-head of Asia Pacific investment banking. Gokul’s co-head, Kate Richdale, becomes Morgan Stanley’s sole head of Asia Pacific investment banking. This announcement has caused debate, with commentators musing which of the co-heads had been promoted and which had been demoted. "They have both been promoted," my source intoned. "And please don’t even get me started on Kate’s supposed feud with Wei Christianson [who has just been promoted to co-CEO of Asia for the firm]. They’re both beautiful women who speak fluent Mandarin. Beautiful women can be like cats: they bristle if you put them too near each other."

Nomura exits, Credit Suisse stumbles? Rates, currencies, commodities counter credit revenue decrease

CLS announced today that Nomura has become the 61st shareholder and settlement member of CLS Group after being a third-party member for many years.

“Nomura was in a strategic corner: they were trapped in Japan. They bought the Lehman operations for virtually nothing. If I criticize the Japanese for anything – it is that they are not involved enough in the investment banking business."

The Japanese bank’s acquisition of former Lehman Brothers businesses has greatly enhanced its position in the FX market. Alexandra Fletcher reports.

Asia investment bank head outlines strategy; Australia first in local build-out plan

Sid Prasad worked at Nomura before he joined Merrill Lynch. I have been keeping my eye on Nomura since I met with Sadeq Sayeed, the chief executive of the EMEA operation, last August. Before that meeting, I wrote in my June 2009 column: "It is conceivable that the Lehman acquisition might turn out to be an expensive mistake for the Japanese... I always worry when loyalty is purchased with hefty guarantees." Indeed now, as the last tranche of the guarantees given in 2008 is paid, Nomura is suffering significant defections by former Lehman staff such as Siggi Thorkelsson, head of equities in Asia; Thomas Siegmund, co-head of fixed income in the region; and Jane Wang, vice-chairman of China investment banking. Indeed, every day another senior resignation seems to hit the screen. In mid-March, it was announced that Sayeed himself would be "retiring" from Nomura. No immediate successor was named, which led me to believe that there was an odour of huff about the parting. The following day we learnt that Nomura was forming a new global wholesale division that would be run by Jesse Bhattal, the former head of Lehman in Asia. Bhattal will be based in Hong Kong and will join Nomura’s executive management board. A commentator opined: "Sayeed lost out to Bhattal. Bhattal’s appointment is a sop to the Lehman people who are all threatening to leave now that they have been paid." I look forward to catching up with Bhattal whom I have not seen for many years. However, I believe he has a huge challenge ahead of him: he needs to forge a focused strategy, develop an expertise where Nomura truly excels and decide what to do about the lack of a US platform.

Departures and reshuffles indicate poor strategic planning; Former Lehman employees frustrated by lack of traction

Nomura posted a 27.7 billion yen ($303 million) July-September net profit, the largest profit in nine quarters. Nomura spoke to Euromoney about their global strategy and aim of creating a "next generation" investment bank.

A year after acquiring Lehman Brothers’ Asian and European businesses, Nomura says it is halfway to building a global investment bank. Few people outside the firm think it will succeed. To some, it is already the ‘other Lehman takeover’. But Nomura’s leaders are determined to win the battle. Lawrence White and Helen Avery report.

It was another miserable 12 months for Japan’s banks, with the three megabanks, the tier below them and the smaller regional banks all suffering as domestic bankruptcies from the plummeting economy caused NPL levels to rise and Lehman Brothers-related investments turned bad. Total losses from bad loans among the top banks amounted to ¥1.7 trillion ($17.6 billion) and the three largest financial groups – MUFG, Mizuho FG and SMFG – all reported heavy losses for the year. That left Resona Holdings, Euromoney’s best bank in Japan in 2007, as this year’s winner after the group posted a profit of ¥123 billion despite the hellish environment.

Philip Lynch, Nomura’s Middle East and Africa chief executive, tells Euromoney his firm has been mandated on a yen-denominated sovereign debt issue from the Middle East, which will come to market in the next few months.

Nomura’s handling of SK Telecom’s $300 million five-year convertible bond has left the market asking if it was the bold stroke that will establish the firm as a big player in Asia’s equity-linked market or an over-aggressive piece of business that could harm the market and the bank alike.

The acquisition of the European and Asian arms of Lehman Brothers means that the Japanese firm is now the world’s largest independent investment bank. The deal shocked many who had expected a western buy-out. Lawrence White speaks to Takumi Shibata and Sadeq Sayeed, the architects of the deal.

Is the new Nomura a threat to the dominant investment banks in the Asia-Pacific region?

Japan’s Nomura booked a ¥73 billion ($621 million) loss from its residential mortgage-backed securities unit as the company announced its exit from the US RMBS market. The bank described the move as part of a general reduction in its US activities that will cut the number of employees by 400 to 900. Although the loss is small in comparison with the billion-dollar losses at some American banks, it is the largest yet reported by a major Japanese institution as a result of the sub-prime problem. In a statement, Nomura president and CEO Nobuyuki Koga acknowledged "disappointing results" in the US RMBS market but said that the bank had "moved decisively to deal with the issue and had avoided further and protracted losses by taking firm and immediate action".

Rivals wish the Japanese investment bank all the worst.

Is Nomura’s time up? Japanese bank faces PR nightmare as lawsuits unfold; Tailor woe for one of the UK’s leading lawyers

Investment banks Nomura and Mediobanca are about to close Italy’s largest ever securitization of regional healthcare receivables, according to market sources in Italy and London. “This is the largest ever deal of its type, and it has unique structural features that have never been used before in this asset class,” says a source close to the €2 billion transaction.

The Japanese bank no longer appears to be targeting the frequent issuers business.

Co-head of global debt primary markets, Nomura

For a major Czech bank, Investicni a Postovni Banka was deeply untransparent. Bank analysts, auditors and central bankers tried in vain to map the labyrinth controlled by vice-chairman Libor Prochazka. They didn’t much like the bank or its emphatically non-strategic partner Nomura. So, when catastrophe hit IPB in June, the government stepped in heavily and maybe did the wrong thing, for the right reason – or vice versa. Was this the best way for an EU candidate to reform its financial sector? David Shirreff reports