Amid new regulation, lower profits and a dreary market for mergers and acquisitions, several banks are planning to trim investment-banking units that were built for an era of deals aplenty.
This might happen because the government spends less, in an effort to repair Japan's awful public finances, or because firms trim their investment plans.
Meanwhile, Trim Tabs Investment Research is sounding bullish on the prospect that companies will start taking slivers off those cash piles and spending them on payrolls in the near future.