Press Release

November 28, 2003

Recommendation Based on the inspection results of Société Générale Securities (North Pacific) Ltd.

1. Recommendation Issued       The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission today issued a recommendation that the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency (FSA) take administrative disciplinary action pursuant to Paragraph 1 of Article 20 of the FSA Establishment Act based upon the results of the inspection of Société Générale Securities (North Pacific) Ltd. (Tokyo Branch located in Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative in Japan Shozo Nurishi ; staffed with approximately 230 employees including directors; hereinafter referred to as '' Société Générale Securities''), which found the following facts constituting violations of laws and regulations by Société Générale Securities. 2. Facts Ascertained A series of transactions for the sale or purchase of a security to create an artificial market without any reflection of the actual state of the market       In connection with corporate bonds redeemable with shares (''Reference Shares'') of another company different from the bond issuer company, or the exchangeable bonds (the ''EB''), such another company being a listed company, a trader at Japanese Equity Derivatives Department of Société Générale Securities, in the course of business, placed a series of limit sell orders at 782 yen in a large quantity of the Reference Shares, caused the price of the Reference Shares to fall down to 782 yen from the immediately preceding transaction price of 783 yen effected at the market, and created a situation in which the closing price of the Reference Shares would not have become equal to or higher than 783 yen unless all of such sell-ordered shares would have been sold, between 14:58 and the end of the day's trading on 14th November, 2001, on which date how the EB be redeemed was to be determined; either in cash or with the Reference Shares, depending upon the day's closing price of the Reference Shares, with the intention of putting the closing price at the level (lower than 783 yen) resulting in the EB redemption with shares, in order to enable the parent company of Société Générale Securities to avoid position risks that would arise in case of the cash redemption in lieu of physical delivery of the Reference Shares that the parent company had held in preparation of the share redemption.       As the result, the price of the Reference Shares in fact closed at 781 yen, and the EB's share redemption was fixed.       The foregoing is acknowledged to fall under the ''act of making a series of transactions for the sale or purchase of a security to create an artificial market without any reflection of the actual state of the market'' provided for in Item (3), Article 4 of the Ordinance of Cabinet Office Concerning Regulation, etc. of Conducts of Securities Company as applied by Paragraph 21 of Article 24 under the Ordinance of Cabinet Office Concerning Foreign Securities Firms based upon Item (9), Paragraph 1 of Article 42 under the Securities and Exchange Law as applied by Paragraph 1 of Article 14 under the Law on Foreign Securities Firms.

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