Professional Luncheon,
Kenichi Watanabe,
President & CEO, Nomura Holdings, Inc.

The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.

Japan's financial companies are big. Its banks are, by assets at least, among the largest in the world. On the global stage, however, its securities traders and financiers are minnows operating in the shadow of what until a few months ago were the western giants of international finance.

The Asian and European operations of one of those behemoths, Lehman Brothers, is now in the hands of Nomura Holdings, which reportedly paid more than $200 million to put thousands of Lehman employees on its payroll.

Come to the Club on Nov 19 to hear how Nomura's CEO, Kenichi Watanabe, plans to retool those workers to help thrust Nomura among the big hitters of global finance, as a new model of investment banking takes shape. With corporate Japan holding as much as $1 trillion in cash and global equity values plummeting, could Nomura's overseas gamble be the start of a surge in Japanese acquisitions abroad not seen since the heady decade of spandex, Pac Man and bulky shoulder pads?

Sandwich Plate: Pastrami & cheese sandwich with pickles.
Hot Plate: Chicken paprika stew with noodles, seasonal vegetables, green salad & bread.

Kenichi Watanabe