Tuesday 10 November 2009

Nomura bets on bridging cultural divide

It has been an eventful year for everyone in the financial industry, but a particularly turbulent one for Philip Lynch, regional head of Nomura, the Japanese securities group.

Just over a year ago Mr Lynch was co-head of European equities at Lehman Brothers, and was sent to Dubai to lead and reinforce the bank’s Middle East operations, at the time one of the many big-hitting investment bankers moving to the region – enticed by the gush of petrodollars.

“The story at the time was that the Gulf was decoupled, counter-cyclical and awash with money given the high oil price – which was famously forecast to reach $200,” Mr Lynch recalls. “The whole street [Wall Street] was dispatching senior bankers to develop new sources of revenue and win the arms race of demonstrable commitment to the region.”

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