“Waterline Project” is the code name for Nomura Holdings’s latest cost-cutting drive.  After slashing hundreds of overseas jobs since April, CEO Koji Nagai is intent on combatting waste and improving the cost-effectiveness of the bank’s daily operations over the next 3 years. Fact is, cost-cutting has been a feature of Nagai’s 4 years at the helm of Nomura, and his latest initiative comes after this year’s restructuring in Europe and the U.S. to trim $700 million of expenses.

“The waterline on a warship will rise a centimeter each year if the crew brings excess baggage,” Nagai said in an interview in Tokyo. “Before you know it, the ship will sink.”

Nagai, 57, said Waterline will focus on reducing non-personnel expenses, although he didn’t rule out job cuts or reassignments. And he did say that the bank plans to trim more positions abroad by around the fiscal year’s end in March, without giving a number. At the same time, in the U.S., having pared some operations such as leveraged finance, Nagai said he’s keen to bolster promising businesses in areas such as investment banking. The brokerage may hire bankers or obtain a team from its rivals to boost its U.S. advisory and primary businesses “selectively,” he said.

Nomura has earned less profit per employee than its closest domestic rival Daiwa Securities Group over the past 4 years. However, M&A business aside, Nomura’s fortunes appear to be turning. The company is on course to post its first profit abroad in 7 years for the 12 months ending March.