TOKYO--Japanese financial regulators are pressing 12 big
brokerages here to reveal their dealings with an investment adviser
recently sanctioned for alleged insider trading, banking minister
Tadahiro Matsushita said Friday.
The move comes as Japan's crackdown on suspected insider trading
in the markets accelerates, with ruling-party lawmakers reviewing a
list of 25 firms whose shares saw a spike in trading volume ahead
of share offerings.
Japan's Financial Services Agency this week asked a group of 12
brokerages to submit reports on their insider controls--including a
question on transactions with Japan Advisory, an investment adviser
whose license was pulled last week for alleged insider trading
ahead of a share offering of Nippon Sheet Glass Co. in 2010.
The group of brokerages includes Japan's biggest securities
houses, Nomura Holdings Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., as
well as the Japanese units of western banks like Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co.
A special group of Japan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan,
meanwhile, is reviewing a list, provided by the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, of companies where trading volume rose ahead of
share-offering announcements, including this week's by All Nippon
Airways Co.
The data compares trading volume right before the share
announcements with the average volumes for the month previous, and
does not necessarily imply leaks of insider information.
-Toko Sekiguchi contributed to this article
Write to Phred Dvorak at phred.dvorak@dowjones.com