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.
野村的賭博很可能是一場敗局。雖然收購經過清算的、以倫敦為總部的雷曼歐洲業務只花了20億美元，收購其亞洲業務只花了2.85億美元，但這筆買賣——柴田形容這是“一代人一遇”的機會，將促成這家過度依賴國內市場的銀行實現轉型——并不算便宜。為了留住雷曼員工——他們中許多人在正常情況下絕不會屈尊為一家專注于本土市場的日本銀行效力——野村已向5000名銀行家保證，兩年內工資和獎金將與2007年一樣，那可是令人咋舌的高薪。