TOKYO (AP) — Nomura CEO Kenichi Watanabe has resigned in
the wake of an insider trading scandal at Japan’s biggest investment
bank.
Watanabe announced his resignation at a press conference
Thursday in Tokyo, ending his four year leadership of Nomura Holdings
Ltd. Takumi Shibata, another top executive at the bank, also resigned.
Watanabe,
59, will from Aug. 1 be replaced by Koji Nagai, the president of Nomura
Securities Co., which is part of the Nomura banking empire and at the
center of the insider scandal.
Japan’s financial regulators are
investigating Nomura Securities for leaking information to clients ahead
of planned securities offerings by energy company Inpex, Mizuho
Financial Group and Tokyo Electric Power Co. in 2010.
Nomura has admitted that some its employees were involved in leaking inside information.
A
panel of external lawyers commissioned by the company said in a June 29
report that its equity sales staff would seek information from
colleagues about upcoming offerings that Nomura was underwriting and
then pass along those tips to customers.
The panel made a series
of recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future, including
banning conversations with clients about rumors regarding financing
transactions and using personal cellphones for business.
Nomura is reportedly losing underwriting business in wake of the scandal.
The company is still being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission and could
face penalties.
Nomura’s
share price has more than halved since word of the investigation first
surfaced in March, falling from 417 yen to 259 yen. It was up 5.7
percent Thursday on reports of Watanabe’s resignation.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.