Japan Regulator Seeks Credit Suisse Penalty

TOKYO—Japan's securities-market regulator said Friday it has asked the Financial Services Agency to punish Credit Suisse Group AG in Tokyo for allegedly improperly providing nonpublic information about a Japanese company to its clients.

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said analysts at Credit Suisse obtained details about the unidentified Japanese company's earnings revisions before its announcement and provided such information to a number of customers in September and October last year.

A sales representative who received the information also solicited at least 33 customers to buy stocks of the company, the SESC said.

Credit Suisse said in a statement that the company has taken the matter seriously. It added: "We'll work on improving our internal control."

The SESC asked the FSA to punish the Swiss bank saying its internal control didn't function sufficiently following the downsizing of that division. Lack of internal control "is identified as the root cause of the problems," the market watchdog said.

In December last year, the FSA ordered Deutsche Securities to improve its business practice in Tokyo after that brokerage was involved in a similar incident. At that time, Deutsche Securities in Japan received the sanction for allegedly obtaining details about an unidentified Japanese company's earnings before it announced its financial results in December 2014. The information was then sent to 21 officials in Deutsche Securities' sales division.

Write to Atsuko Fukase at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2016 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT)

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