Nomura Holdings, Japan’s largest brokerage, has made its third consecutive quarterly net loss and given warning that it has $425 million (£270.5 million) exposure to the bonds of Icelandic banks.

Nomura, which last month bought Lehman Brothers’ operations outside the US, also cautioned about further writedowns on 55 million shares in Fortress Investment Group, a US hedge fund. The stake was on Nomura's books at $12 a share but Fortress's price has dipped to $4.

Nomura made a net loss of 72.9 billion yen ($781.6 million) between July and September, compared with an 11.7 billion yen net loss a year earlier — a six-fold increase.

The group said it holds a $425 million position exposing it to Iceland, which has fallen into crisis as its top three banks folded and its currency collapsed.

Masafumi Nakada, the chief financial officer, said: “Management takes it very seriously that we have posted three consecutive quarterly losses. We feel a sense of crisis and are now working on how to improve the situation.”

Nomura may also post losses from its bond investments in Icelandic banks, Mr Nakada said. Nomura had bought credit default protection on the bonds from Lehman Brothers, but Lehman’s failure may mean that Nomura has lost some of that protection.

The securities group spent $2 billion to take over Lehman Brothers' businesses and hopes to use the acquisition to bring back earnings and diversify from Japan when the market recovers.

Times Recommends

• Gazprom brands Ukraine 'a barbarian' in gas row
• Services sector raises fears over UK jobless
• Retailers surge as profits survive sales plunge