Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda publicly apologized after an employee was accused of manipulating the bond futures market. Speaking at a financial forum in Tokyo, Okuda expressed regret over the recent recommendations from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) regarding Nomura Securities.
The SESC's investigation last week prompted a fine request for Nomura's domestic securities unit due to alleged manipulation of Japanese government bond futures in 2021. As a result, Toyota Financial Services and several other companies have excluded Nomura, Japan's largest brokerage, from underwriting their debt transactions.
The SESC recommended a 21.8 million yen (approximately $152,000) fine to the Financial Services Agency (FSA) for Nomura's violations. Such penalties are usually enforced by the FSA within a few weeks.
Nomura stated last week that it has been working to reform its Japanese government bond futures trading business since the issue arose and has pledged to continue improving internal controls to prevent such incidents in the future.
Both Citigroup and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's securities companies have also faced penalties in recent years for manipulating Japanese government bond futures prices.
