Nomura Purges Trading Communications Group; New Technology Centralization Effort Looms

Late last week, as the Securities Industry Association conference and exhibit wound down to its festive conclusion, Nomura Securities International Inc. was completing a purge of a key information technology support group -- one that was responsible for trading room data distribution systems. While details remain sketchy at press time, sources at the firm say that Nomura was dissatisfied with the group's efforts and is now looking to add a dose of centralization to its technology strategy in New York.

A Nomura spokesperson, declines to comment. But sources say that data services manager Wayne Stauffer, Micrognosis systems administrator Flavio Gurjao and voice services manager Karen Gomerac were among 12 staffers who left the firm in the wake of its decision to reorganize. Stauffer had been in charge of trading floor technical support and operations for Nomura, following the departure of Rich Malinowski last year (TST, Sept. 30, 1993).

According to sources at the firm, the communications department has now been reorganized. "The communications department was fragmented," says one source. "Now it is in the process of being put under tighter control." Sources say that replacements have not been named for the dozen who left.

Sources say that Stauffer's group -- part of Nomura Research Institute America Inc., which is a subsidiary intended to provide technical support to Nomura business units -- had been responsible for the implementation of an upgraded Micrognosis Inc. digital data distribution platform.

According to a source, Nomura has been evaluating Micro's Real-Time Mips digital record-based data distribution system which Micrognosis acquired when it bought the former FD Consulting Inc. (TST, July 26, 1993). Before that, Nomura had been slated to deploy the so-called Merit record-based data distribution system, which Micrognosis developed itself; what bits of Merit the firm did roll out failed to perform (TST, Nov. 30, 1992). Both Stauffer and Gurjao have previously been employees of Micrognosis, as had Malinowski. Nomura continues to rely on Micro's Tradelook page-based platform as well as a video switch.

Sources say that Nomura's fixed-income trading group lately opted to have other technologists at the firm develop internally a separate digital data platform, based on Tradelook. According to one source, that project was headed by Nomura executives Matthew Chung and Kelly Matsuda.