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Nomura Securities says employee in Japan leaked client information – Metro US

Nomura Securities says employee in Japan leaked client information

FILE PHOTO: Nomura Securities trading floor is pictured at the
FILE PHOTO: Nomura Securities trading floor is pictured at the company’s Otemachi Head Office in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nomura Securities, the securities arm of Nomura Holdings Inc <8604.T>, said on Thursday that information related to its corporate clients has been leaked outside through an employee.

The employee leaked information on transactions affecting 275 corporate clients, mostly financial institutions, to Tokyo-based brokerage Nippon Institutional Securities, Nomura said in a statement.

Just over a year ago in a separate incident, a Nomura research affiliate leaked information about expected changes to the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s listing criteria to the chief strategist of Nomura Securities.

That cost then CEO Koji Nagai a 30% pay cut. Nagai took the helm in 2012, after his predecessor resigned over a widening insider trading scandal.

In the latest case, the information was related to trading in ETFs (exchange-traded funds), but a Nomura spokesman did not elaborate.

Nomura said the information was leaked to a former employee of Nomura who works at Nippon Institutional, an unit of asset manager Nikko Asset Management.

Nomura said it is considering taking strict measures against this employee, whom the brokerage did not identify, and it would strengthen its information management system.

In a separate statement, Nippon Institutional said an employee who joined the firm from Nomura in October obtained client information between January and July through a Nomura Securities employee.

Nippon Securities said it has not found any further leaks of information.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Kim Coghill)