Press Conference by the Commissioner

(Excerpt)

25 March, 2002

Q.

Among from the securities firms on which the FSA has imposed a penalty for a violation of the regulations on short-selling, foreign-affiliated firms stand out compared to Japanese firms. Any Japanese securities firm will not be penalized?

A.

Irrespective of whether it is a foreign-affiliated firm or a Japanese firm, we impartially have conducted both the supervision and the inspection. As a result, last year, we have taken an administrative action against Japanese securities firms as well. At the same time, we have also taken an administrative action against foreign-affiliated securities firms in breach of the regulations on short-selling, but two of five penalized firms last week were Japanese securities firms.

I don't have any prediction about future administrative actions and we just keep conducting rigid supervision without making any distinction between foreign-affiliated firm and Japanese securities firm.