The administrative penalty imposed July 30 on Nomura Securities Co. by the Finance Ministry over payoffs to a corporate extortionist will certainly hurt the nation's leading brokerage, but the pain may not last for very long.
Some analysts say Nomura has already weathered the worst damage inflicted by the scandal and some even expect it to regain its strength now that uncertainty surrounding the brokerage has been cleared.
The penalty, as well as the raid by prosecutors July 30 on Yamaichi Securities Co., will probably not radically change the overall industry landscape on the eve of the "Big Bang" financial reform, according to some analysts. Hideaki Akimoto, director of Daiwa Institute of Research, said he expects Nomura's market share of equity trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange may drop from 6 percent in June to between 3 percent and 4 percent temporarily. The decrease in turn will benefit foreign brokerages that excel at large-lot basket trading, but there will be little impact on the market as a whole, he said.