Nomura Holdings Inc. is doggedly expanding in a U.S. bond market that pays fees as low as 0.003 percent, even as it slashes its number of employees in London and one of its biggest shareholders says to get out of unprofitable overseas businesses.

Japan's biggest brokerage has managed $18 billion of agency-note sales in the U.S. this year, putting it ahead of JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the third-biggest underwriter. The Tokyo-based investment bank is on track to manage a record amount of the debt at a time when other institutions such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG are scaling back.

Nomura is looking to capture more overseas business even after its existing operations lost money for the past five years. As a brokerage, the company can't leverage lending relations with U.S. companies to boost corporate bond underwriting like bank rival Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has done. It's gained more traction in U.S. agency sales as some American and European banks retreat in the face of more stringent capital regulations.