Top Firm 'Bet The Bank' - And May Well Have Lost

The resignation of two key executives, a big restructuring likely in the offing, and $1.2bn in cost-savings to find. Is it 'game over' for this firm's global investment banking aspirations ?

The resignations of Jesse Bhattal, Nomura's wholesale banking chief, and Tarun Jotwani, the firm's head of global markets, could signal the end of the firm's ambitions to become a top global player in investment banking.

Here are a few press sound bites on the subject:

'The resignation of Jesse and Tarun was like clearing a cloud over us. Simply because they were expensive....I (also) think we should have bought all of Lehman - the US, Europe and Asia - but we didn't buy the Americas. That was a mistake; the size of the fee pool in the United States is very big'.

Unnamed Nomura executive (Reuters)

'His (Bhattal's) resignation illustrates a turning point for Nomura, and shows that its strategy to boost profit by hiring expensive bankers after the Lehman acquisition isn't going to work. The business model, which Lehman perfected, is old and won't work under the new regulatory regime and current market conditions'.

Yuri Yosiha, Senior Analyst, Standard & Poor's (Bloomberg)

'Bhattal kept Lehman's franchise and people and helped Nomura resurrect business ties with certain clients that the US bank used to have. But the point is, Nomura keeps posting losses overseas'.

Masao Muraki, analyst, Deutsche Bank (Bloomberg)

'The wholesale business has been the key drag on Nomura's profitability, and the major reason they're at risk of downgrades from credit rating agencies. It was only a matter of time before they got someone to take responsibility'.

Makarim Salman, analyst, Jefferies (The Financial Times)

'Nomura bet the bank on this; they've gone all in. They tried to expand organically in the US, simultaneously with buying the European and Asian assets of Lehman'.

Unnamed analyst (The Financial Times)

'The only thing for Nomura to do is to go back to Japan and create product for their retail depositors - its game over for international expansion at Nomura'.

Unnamed Hong Kong-based banker (The Financial Times)

The final word goes to an unnamed Nomura insider who, on the subject of the future of the firm's wholesale banking operation, places everything on the nationality of Bhattal's successor: 'If it's another non-Japanese, then the global ambitions are still intact. If it's a Japanese executive, everything's off and we all go home'.

(The Financial Times)