Nomura: dropped deals - FT.com That's it, Japan Inc! Hit badly-behaved banks where it hurts: their wallets. Companies are responding to bank shortcomings (insider trading) by dropping those at the centre of the scandal from deals. Treasurers elsewhere should bear this in mind. Both Development Bank of Japan and Resona Holdings cut Nomura from bond underwriting deals on Tuesday. The day before Kawasaki Heavy dumped Daiwa Securities from its borrowing plans. DBJ is state-backed but the other two are not. Avoiding banks in regulatory trouble in this way is extremely rare - as is the companies" willingness to say so publicly. And these are not token slaps to small fry: Nomura is Japan's largest investment bank. It and Daiwa are involved in about half the equity raised in Japan, and a third of debt deals, according to Bloomberg data. About half of Daiwa's revenues are commission-based, wholesale banking is a third of Nomura's business. Underwriting fees are a fraction of those, but the fact remains, being dropped from marquee deals will hurt them. The two brokers are not oblivious. Nomura has admitted lax controls were behind leaks in three equity raisings. It has temporarily halved the pay of its leaders and voluntarily refrained from underwriting and institutional sales for three days and a week respectively. Since the news of their response appeared (ironically, leaked to the media) Nomura's shares have risen 6 per cent. Daiwa is conducting its own investigation after it was found to have leaked on another deal. Acknowledgment and action are welcome. But it is unlikely to change the suspicion that some people know about deals before others: trading in All Nippon Airways was twice its average levels on Monday - just before Tuesday's news of its Y211bn share sale. It was these sorts of movements which finally pushed Japan's regulators to act. Unusual volumes like ANA's suggest they have a lot of work to do.