Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

February 15 , 2005

Q.

Livedoor Co., Ltd. purchased many shares of Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc. through out-of-hours stock trading according to some news reports this morning. According to the reports, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has started considering the possibility of revising the Securities and Exchange Law due to concerns that the takeover bid (TOB) system might lose substance. What is your position on this?

A.

According to the materials disclosed by Livedoor, they purchased the shares through off-hours trading. As this corresponds to trading at the stock exchange, it is not subject to regulations under the existing law.

However, off-hours trading may take a similar form to trading conducted outside a stock exchange, depending on the way in which it is used. Therefore, we need to examine whether off-hours trading should be covered by regulations concerning tender offers in the future.

Q.

Will the law have to be revised?

A.

In general terms, we must constantly and ceaselessly review whether the current system is appropriate and whether there are problems in the system, in order to ensure confidence in the market. As I just explained, if off-hours trading does take a similar form to trading conducted outside a stock exchange depending on the way in which it is used, it will be necessary to examine this. We will therefore look into whether it should be covered by regulations.