Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest bank, posted its first loss in 2-1/2 years, largely due to a drop in investment banking revenues.  As a result of its 2nd quarter net loss of $591mn, the firm has tripled its cost-cutting target to $1.2bn. European investment banking operations were the hardest hit, due to the Euro debt crisis and weak market conditions.  The timing is unfortunate, because Nomura went into a global expansion mode in 2008, starting with the purchase of Lehman Brothers Asian and European businesses. Cuts, Shifts in Resources. About 60% of the $1.2bn in savings will come from Europe, where Nomura is losing money and employs some 4,500 persons - or 13% of its global workforce.  A Reuters source said total job losses would likely top 1,000, including the 300 cuts announced in September. Nomura anticipates the cuts will mainly target the wholesale division, which suffered a pretax loss of 73bn yen.  The bank also plans to shift resources from Europe to more promising operations in Asia and the United States. [Reuters, 11/1/11]