The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has imposed disciplinary action against brokerage firm San-ei Securities for trying to cause price fluctuations in Japanese stocks in order to benefit its proprietary trading book.
San-ei has been fined ¥5 million and has been ordered to implement a fundamental overhaul of its trading and supervision systems and framework to prevent a reoccurrence. The broker has also been told to implement higher training standards and clarify the responsibilities of traders in relation to the rules broken in this case.
The exchange found that two dealers at San-ei's securities department placed buy orders at limit prices at which they did not intend to execute to cause price moves in TSE-listed stocks, that would be to the advantage of its proprietary trading operation. The TSE says that traders did this by soliciting orders from other market participants between April and December 2009.