Nomura's gamble could well turn out to be a dud. Although it spent only $2 (€1.40, £1.35) on the liquidated London-based European operations of Lehman, and $285m on the Asian ones, the purchase – described by Mr Shibata as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform his overly domestic “shop” – did not come cheap. In order to retain Lehman staff, many of whom in normal circumstances would never have deigned to work for a domestically focused Japanese bank, Nomura has guaranteed the wages and bonuses of 5,000 bankers for two years at 2007's silly-money levels.
野村的赌博很可能是一场败局。虽然收购经过清算的、以伦敦为总部的雷曼欧洲业务只花了20亿美元，收购其亚洲业务只花了2.85亿美元，但这笔买卖——柴田形容这是“一代人一遇”的机会，将促成这家过度依赖国内市场的银行实现转型——并不算便宜。为了留住雷曼员工——他们中许多人在正常情况下绝不会屈尊为一家专注于本土市场的日本银行效力——野村已向5000名银行家保证，两年内工资和奖金将与2007年一样，那可是令人咋舌的高薪。