Nomura is reportedly slashing more than 100 jobs this week, but insiders are bracing for a bigger shock

Thomson Reuters

• About 100 job cuts at Nomura are expected this week, mostly in Europe and the US.
• Insiders say lack of clarity from the top is causing some senior managers to estimate that the bank will either cut more than expected or that the cuts will be to senior staff.
• Slides seen by Business Insider show an aim to overhaul markets, and boost bespoke services

Job cuts are coming at Nomura, and while staff are expecting a brutal announcement, they still may be in for a shock.

An insider at the Tokyo-based firm says senior managers have been discussing a Bloomberg report last week about the bank's plan to axe 100 or so positions across Europe and the US. The managers tell Business Insider that they are speculating that the number is either too conservative or will hit higher ranks more than expected.

Transparency from top brass about previous job cut announcements, and their lack of clarity now, is causing some to guess that senior positions will be affected, or there might be a reorganization of some units, an insider told us.

Referring to senior discussions of the 100 cuts, one insider said: "They're saying, 'It's much more than that.'" However, another source said the 100 number is about right.

Still, worried employees, especially more senior ones, have been bracing for the announcement, which insiders say is expected on Thursday.

The cuts are expected in the international unit, including the US, where the bank has been reporting losses for the past few quarters. Bloomberg has reported that the division has failed to generate returns since absorbing Lehman Brothers' operations after the 2008 financial crisis.

An insider says staff are expecting the cuts this week to be in that unit's "flow" operations, a part of global markets that includes equities, fixed-income, and currency trading.

The bank in 2016 shut down the majority of its cash equities operations in Europe.

Nomura looks to be continuing in that vein: Slides shared internally last week, seen by Business Insider, show that the bank aims to overhaul "secondary trading," which would include flow, while expanding the "primary" business, or bespoke services.

The cuts may be a sign the Japanese arm is seizing more direct control of its non-Japan operations, and that the bank is shifting to an organizational structure that is more centrally, versus regionally, run.

Nomura has been flagging its plans, at least in Europe. CEO Koji Nagai told Bloomberg in December that because the bank aims to scrap London's status as a hub, its staff of 3,000 throughout the region is perhaps "a little large."

"We have to bolster our top line and control these excessively large costs," the CEO said to Bloomberg at the time. In January, the Financial Times reported that Nomura planned to cut as many as 50 jobs from the sales and trading division.

A Nomura spokesperson declined to comment on the job cuts to Business Insider.

If you have more information about what's going on inside Nomura, contact Trista Kelley at tkelley@businessinsider.com or Callum Burroughs at cburroughs@businessinsider.com.