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(Bloomberg) — Japan’s Ministry of Finance plans to temporarily exclude Nomura Holdings Inc. from taking part in government debt auctions after the firm admitted to manipulating the bond futures market, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The ministry plans to suspend Nomura from the primary group of Japanese government bond dealers for a month from Oct. 15, the people said, asking not to be identified. An announcement is set to be made later Friday, the people added.
Representatives for the finance ministry and Nomura didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The action is another setback to Nomura after the revelations led several companies including Toyota Finance Corp. to take their bond underwriting business elsewhere. As one of the biggest players in government bond auctions, Nomura ranked fourth among primary dealers by successful bids weighted by duration in the six months through September, according to the ministry.
Shares of Nomura erased gains, trading 0.3% lower at 12:38 p.m. in Tokyo.
Nomura admitted to Japan’s financial regulator that an employee manipulated government bond futures by placing large orders without intending to buy or sell all of them, Bloomberg News reported this week. The nation’s securities watchdog had earlier recommended a ¥21.8 million ($147,000) fine against the company for the 2021 breach.
The finance ministry’s move was expected given past cases of bond market manipulation. Citigroup Inc. was fined ¥133 million in 2019 and suspended from the primary group of dealers. A year earlier, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.’s securities venture with Morgan Stanley received a ¥218 million penalty and was also suspended from the group. The venture was also dropped as an underwriter of several corporate bond deals.
Primary dealers are given access to ministry officials in return for an obligation to bid for and purchase a certain amount of bonds at each auction. The group had 19 members as of December last year, according to the ministry’s website.
There have been bright spots. Nomura said it won the role as arranger of the Tokyo municipal government’s planned green-blue bond issuance worth ¥10 billion, according to a statement on Thursday. The instruments generally finance green projects as well as those that help protect or revive the world’s oceans and waterways. The firm is also one of the joint lead managers for Tokyo Metro Co.’s marquee initial public offering.
–With assistance from Nao Sano, Takahiko Hyuga and Hideki Suzuki.
(Updates with shares in fifth paragraph, details of the case thereafter)
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