[2] This was just before the Meiji Restoration, the move to setting up a bank was a logical extension and progression of this business as times changed.

Key amongst these changes was the Japanese government's decision to issue foreign currency denominated public bonds to fund the Russo-Japanese war; Nomura employed English speaking staff so that they could take on this international business.

By 1906 Nomura had founded an in-house research department headed up by former Osaka newspaper journalist Kisaku Hashimoto.

He had earlier established Osaka Nomura bank in 1918, based on the Mitsui zaibatsu model with a capital of ¥10 million.

[14] The acquisition made Nomura the world's largest independent investment bank with Y20,300bn (£138bn) assets under management according to the Financial Times.

[21] On 15 June 2021, a colony of small-flowered tongue-orchids were found growing in the rooftop garden of Nomura's London HQ.

The species, which is native to the Mediterranean Basin and Atlantic coast of Western Europe, was thought extinct in the UK, as no sightings of the plant had been recorded since 1989 prior to the discovery of the colony.

Nomura divides its operations up into three regional areas, Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).

[27] In December 2009 Reuters reported that Nomura had raised $7 billion of extra funding through issuing additional shares.