Japan Stock Regulator Fines Credit Suisse For Leaking Information

Credit Suisse Group AG is set to be penalized by Japan’s stock market watchdog for leaking private information about a company and for violations of the country’s stock exchange laws.

Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) said Friday at least one analyst at the Swiss bank passed on sensitive information about an unidentified company’s earnings to a colleague in the sales division, as well as to least one customer.

The sales representative then solicited at least 33 customers to buy shares in the company whose information was leaked, the commission said in a statement Friday. The SESC also said Credit Suisse had inadequate systems for managing nonpublic information about companies.

“The insufficiency of measures ensuring internal control in the process of downsizing the divisions, such as the internal control division, is identified as the root cause of the problems,” the watchdog said.

Credit Suisse reportedly replied to Thursday’s announcement by saying the matter was under serious review and that the bank would “work on improving our internal control.”

In December, Japan’s Financial Services Agency found Deutsche Securities involved in a similar incident and ordered the brokerage to improve its operations in Tokyo, according to the Wall Street Journal.