Japanese Company Loses Billions in Bond Insurance Market

Japan’s largest securities business group, Nomura Holdings Inc., announced a ¥153.85 billion (US$1.47 billion) net loss in the first quarter of 2008, buffeted by the international financial market tempest that inflated its losses from its monoline exposure and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Published on April 25, 2008

Nomura’s loss was in sharp contrast to revenue from the ¥33.09 billion profit it booked in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue was down a staggering 79% to ¥125.98 billion from ¥588.62 billion.

For Nomura’s entire fiscal year, which ended in March, Nomura incurred a net loss of ¥67.85 billion, in sharp contrast to the ¥175.83 billion profit the company earned a year earlier. Revenue fell 22% to ¥1.594 trillion from ¥2.049 trillion.

The fiscal year net loss was even worse than projected by analysts, in part due to Nomura’s booking an unexpectedly large loss of about ¥132 billion from its monoline exposure in the fiscal fourth quarter.