Asian investment bank Nomura will run the IT systems of parts
of Lehman Brothers alongside its own system following its
acquisition of the troubled investment bank.
Lehman Brothers, which employs
5000 UK employees including significant numbers of IT staff,
filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
Administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers negotiated the sale of the
investment banking and equities businesses of Lehman Brothers to
Nomura, securing a deal on Monday that safeguarded the jobs of
about 2500 people.
A Nomura spokeswoman said the systems of the two banks would
eventually be integrated, although it was too early to say
when.
"The priority is to get the businesses up and running at their
current locations and we will run two separate systems for now. We
will then integrate, but there is no time line," she said.
"This sale, which is conditional on a number of issues, means
the continuing employment of around 2,500 Lehman staff, a vast
number of whom have been working with us to get this unprecedented
deal done."
Tony Rawlinson, managing director of financial services at
sourcing consultant Equaterra, said the two platforms are proven
and Nomura will begin integration once it finalises its
consolidation strategy.
"It is not a question of technology because both sets of systems
are already used but it is about the economics of consolidation,"
he added.