Nomura, the Japanese securities giant, will cut up to 1,000 jobs in London less than three months after taking on the European business of Lehman Brothers, the collapsed Wall Street investment bank.

The Times has learnt that frontline investment bankers across Nomura’s equities, fixed income and investment banking divisions are facing redundancy over the coming weeks.

Bankers, including those from Lehman, will be hit by the job cuts, which will result in the Japanese financial services group reducing its entire London workforce by about a quarter.

Nomura began to tell affected staff of the cuts last week and hopes to complete the process by the end of the first quarter next year. Support staff, including research teams and secretaries, will also be hit by the losses.

Nomura became the world’s biggest investment bank by market capitalisation in September after it agreed to take on about 3,000 Lehman staff, mainly in equities and investment banking. Lehman collapsed into administration after failing to agree a corporate rescue or takeover.

Despite committing at the time to reemploy the majority of Lehman bankers, sources close to Nomura said the bank carried out a strategic review once the acquisition was complete. They said that it decided to reshape itself to face the onslaught of the recession and the pressure on revenues from equity sales and trading and advising on mergers and debt deals.

The Times also understands that Nomura is considering whether to sign a new lease for Lehman’s former headquarters in Canary Wharf. The bank owns the freehold on Nomura House in the City, but the building has room for only 1,700 people. Even once the jobs rout is complete, Nomura will still employ about 3,500 people in London.

Banking sources said that Nomura could sign a short-term lease on the Wharf, which would mean staff would be located in two offices. Ultimately, Nomura plans to transfer all of its staff into a single building in a move that could see it put the landmark Nomura House on the market.

Nomura aims to cut its staffing bill by about a fifth and wants to achieve annual profits of about 500 billion yen (£3.6 billion) by 2011.

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