The generous packages offered by Nomura to Lehman techies

18 September 2009

2 minute read

The generous packages offered by Nomura to Lehman techies

Amid the furore surrounding Nomura's takeover of Lehman's European operations, one thing was given little attention - the integration of disparate computer systems. It seems Nomura was keen to retain the bulk of Lehman's techies and was offering some lucrative packages to persuade them to stay on.

We understand that heads of functions within Lehman's IT teams were offered retention packages of up to 400k to stay on for at least 12 months to oversee a smooth transition.

One such project was the integration of the commodities business computer system, in preparation of Nomura's new push into this area, which is due for completion in October.

Once source tells us: "They locked in a good number of technologists on retention packages, which are due to expire early next year. The heads of functions were kept on as well as those with the granular technology skills. However, those at a mid-level, with responsibility for ongoing Lehman projects, were let go."

As these guarantees about to expire, are ex-Lehman techies beginning to look for pastures new? Paul Bennie, director of financial technology search firm Bennie McLean Associates, thinks not.

"There's still a combination of integration work, green-field projects and vendor package customisation," he says. "The ex-Lehman people are given quite a lot of autonomy, unlike in their former posts where a lot of innovation was driven through the New York office. Nomura is currently an attractive proposition for a technologist."

This time last year, the financial services technology space was looking at a $2.5bn Lehman-sized hole in IT budgets. As it was such a big spender, was one of the reasons Nomura was so willing to pay for Lehman's techies because of their perceived superiority?

One banking technology headhunter believes so: "They were working on more complex systems, had exposure to much greater trading volumes and dealt with more challenging technical issues. They were way ahead of the incumbent Nomura technologists."

AUTHORPaul Clarke

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30 September 2009
Having worked for Lehmans and now at Nomura, my experience is that Lehmans technology staff are more skilled and have a greater depth of experience. The Nomura systems are creaking daily with just marginal increases in volumes. The lack of planning and communication is frightening. Existing Nomura staff are clearly displaying signs of stress and long for the good old days, and are reluctant to adopt "best practice" strategies that have been proven at Lehmans. I feel like I have gone backwards.
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Oversteer
23 September 2009
I work for neither company but I know very many people who have worked for both and I have to say that the Nomura Tech contingent are, I genuinely believe, amongst the most respected in the business. They figured out a long time ago that it wasn't how loud you shout, but the complexity of the task that dictated the duration of the project.
If the Nomura boys had designed their systems to handle Lehmans' level volumes then Nomura would today be working with vastly superior systems than they are, or will be.
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