Jesse Bhattal, chairman of Nomura Asia, to leave the firm

Jasjit "Jesse" Bhattal, former Asia-Pacific CEO of Lehman Brothers, will step down from his current job as chairman of Nomura Asia at the end of this year, according to an internal announcement seen by FinanceAsia. 

A message to Nomura employees from Takumi Shibata, deputy president and COO of Nomura Holdings, said that Bhattal will be leaving, "now that the integration of the Asia businesses has been successfully completed and the value of the acquired businesses has been proven with a significant contribution to the firm". Nomura bought Lehman's Asia operations last September.

The memo added that Bhattal "will continue to provide his counsel and strategic insight as a senior advisor after this period".

Bhattal could not be reached for comment, but insiders say that he will likely start up an Asia-focused boutique firm with former Lehman colleagues. Nomura did not state in its memo who might become Bhattal's replacement.

For Nomura this could be a watershed event and a key question is whether more former Lehman bankers will exit in the coming months. Many were given one- or two-year bonuses at levels equal to those in 2007 to sign on at the Japanese firm -- higher than the typical Nomura bonus package and well above the 2008 bonuses paid at the US banks. Will they stay on to see if they can negotiate continued deals, and assimilate into the firm? Or will they depart after collecting the second part of the bonus for last year, which insiders say will be paid in September? Leaving early will mean entering into a volatile job market, but at least it will not look like they just stayed at Nomura to ride out the downturn or until the end of the bonus deal.

Bhattal's departure is particularly poignant because he is credited with making the Nomura-Lehman deal not only a possibility but a reality. Here's how one insider described how the buyout went down: "We had just been declared bankrupt, the US executive committee told us to sit tight and keep the employees together while they negotiated a deal for the entire global operation. Everyone kept turning up to work hungry for information but with nothing to do. Then, shockingly, the US-based management cut themselves a very special compensation deal with [Barclays Capital] for just the US operation and told us we were on our own. I think that infuriated everyone, but that's when Jesse shone."

"His response was to marshal the troops, get the bid room set up, create a competitive bid environment, negotiate the deal and then ink it with Nomura... within just a few weeks, that saved 3,000 jobs. And this is the cream -- at the executive committee meeting following the deal, when some of the details were being ironed out and when Nomura wanted the Lehman Asia executive committee to take a special compensation deal that would extend their compensation and tenure, Jesse refused to be on a deal that wasn't offered to the rest of the staff (in stark contrast to the way the US management had acted). But he didn't force the rest of the executive committee to do the same, he said they needed to vote on it themselves. He left the room and after some discussion they all agreed to follow Jesse's lead in the best interests of the deal."