Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda apologized in his first public appearance following allegations that an employee manipulated the bond futures market.
The national financial regulator’s investigative arm last week called for a fine against Nomura’s domestic securities unit for allegedly manipulating the prices of Japanese government bond futures in 2021. Toyota Finance and several other companies have since barred Japan’s largest brokerage from deals to underwrite their debts.
“I would like to apologize for the problems caused,” Okuda said at a Nikkei financial forum in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The move came as Nomura competed to capitalize on a resurgence in Japan’s bond market, fueled by a shift in the country’s monetary policy.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended that the Financial Services Agency fine Nomura ¥21.8 million ($152,000) after finding that a dealer profited by placing large orders for JGB futures without intending to to buy or sell all of these. The FSA usually carries out such sanctions weeks later.
Nomura issued a statement last week saying it has been working to overhaul its JGB futures trading business since the transaction. It also pledged to continue improving internal controls to prevent recurrence.
Securities firms, including those at Citigroup and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, have been punished in recent years for manipulating JGB futures prices.
