Why was Nomura paying a £310k salary to a mid-ranking rates salesman?

Nomura?s fixed income sales and trading business is not doing very well. In the first quarter of 2016, revenues there fell 76% compared to the previous year. Nonetheless, if figures from a contemporary court case are anything to go by, Nomura pays its fixed income markets professionals inordinately high salaries.

In most cases, salaries for senior vice presidents or executive director level staff in investment banks in London are around £220k max. Giovanni Lombardo, a former executive director in rates sales at Nomura, seems to have smashed that ceiling comprehensively.

This article was published in eFinancialCareers, 16th May 2016