Case Details
Nomura and the Digital Asset Dilemma: Exploring Strategies for a Traditional Financial Institution
“Nomura and the Digital Asset Dilemma” immerses students in early 2022, when Japan’s 100-year-old investment bank must determine how—and how quickly—to engage with digital assets. Tasked by the group executive committee, veterans Jez Mohideen and Olivier Dang outline five strategic paths: service provider, equity investor, partnerships, in-house initiatives, new entity
External pressures complicate the choice: volatile crypto markets, uneven global regulation, rising client demand for on-chain products, and competition from rivals such as Goldman Sachs, DBS, and SBI. Internally, Nomura must balance shareholder conservatism, cultural inertia, and scarce digital talent against the promise of new revenue streams and strategic relevance.
The case challenges students to evaluate each alternative’s strategic fit, financial impact, operational feasibility, and regulatory risk; to weigh first-mover advantage against follower optionality; and to recommend a course of action that positions Nomura for sustainable growth in a tokenised economy.
Learning Objective:
1. Diagnose the regulatory, technological, and cultural hurdles that a legacy financial institution faces when entering the digital-asset space.
2. Compare alternative strategic entries—service provider, equity investor, partnerships, in-house initiatives, new entity —and assess their strategic fit.
3. Evaluate each option’s risk-return trade-off across financial, operational, and reputational dimensions under uncertain market and policy conditions.
4. Analyze how strategic timing and scope choices affect a bank’s long-term competitiveness, resource allocation, and organisational transformation.
5. Develop a data-driven recommendation for Nomura, synthesising qualitative and quantitative insights into a coherent, defendable strategic plan.