Nomura said it would cut $1bn in costs over the medium term, and close 30 of its 156 domestic retail branches, after Japan’s biggest brokerage and investment bank recorded large losses in the April to December 2018 period.

The plans to streamline operations involve an unspecified number of job cuts at Nomura’s US and European operations in what the company described as a “radical simplification of its operating model”.

The plans to close Japanese brokerage branches represents a key moment for Nomura, whose domestic network has long been regarded as the backbone of the business and among the last areas that would be subjected to the kind of severe cost cutting that has been carried out in its overseas operations.

In a presentation to investors on Thursday, Nomura set out plans to turn around its business, which has been struggling at home and abroad. The plan aims to build a wholesale business that “delivers consistent pre-tax income of $1bn”.

Nomura incurred a net loss of $907m between April and December 2018, its worst performance since the financial crisis.

The group said it would seek to achieve $1bn in cost savings over the medium term, with 60 per cent of those cuts falling before the end of the 2020 financial year.

It will also close 20 per cent of its Japanese retail branches, but committed to maintaining one branch in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures. Most of these closures are expected to be in the Tokyo area.

The plans envision a scaled back fixed income business, with a reduced flow trading presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in favour of growing markets. Instead, it will focus on its more profitable origination business.

The bank said it would also simplify its corporate structure and reconsider its policy of maintaining regional hubs in Europe and the US in addition to Japan, while embarking on a new digitisation strategy.

Shares in Nomura fell 1.5 per cent in Tokyo after Nikkei Asian Review reported on its plans on Thursday morning.