日本券商泄密 不爲獲利爲討好客戶

A Japanese regulatory crackdown on insider trading suggests that stockbrokers here have leaked confidential information more as a service to good clients than for direct profit.

日本監管機構對國內內幕交易的一場打擊活動表明，日本的股票經紀人泄露機密信息更多是爲了服務優質客戶，而不是爲直接獲利。

Financial regulators are examining emails and other records provided by a dozen major brokers-including the Japan arms of Wall Street banks-to check whether they leaked advance information of share offerings, allowing favored clients to profit before the formal announcement.

日本金融監管機構目前正在對12家主要券商(包括華爾街投行的日本分支機構)提供的電子郵件和其它記錄展開調查，以確定它們是否提前泄露了招股信息，從而讓被關照的客戶有機會在消息正式發佈前獲利。

Regulators this year have publicly identified five cases where they found such behavior. Japan's two largest brokers, Nomura Holdings Inc. +1.43% and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., +0.66% have admitted that employees were responsible for leaks, and Nomura's top executives stepped down to take responsibility. Nomura salespeople likely leaked information in several more cases, the broker and regulators said, but the investigation has ended on a lack of evidence that anyone profited.

日本監管機構今年公開確認了五樁他們認爲存在泄密行爲的內幕交易案。日本兩家規模最大的券商野村控股(Nomura Holdings Inc.)和大和證券(Daiwa Securities Group Inc.)已承認，其員工應爲泄密行爲負責，野村已有多名高管引咎辭職。野村和日本監管方說，野村的銷售人員可能在其它幾個案子中也泄露了信息，但由於缺乏有任何人獲利的證據，所以調查已經結束。

Overall, the five cases have resulted in modest fines for the investors involved and a business-improvement order-a relatively light sanction-for Nomura, which was involved in three of the cases.

這五個案子最終都對涉案投資者處以了適度罰款，野村也被勒令改進自身業務(這是個較輕的制裁)。這五個案子中有三個都涉及野村。

The backdrop to the Japanese investigation is far different than that of the U.S., where 66 traders, analysts and corporate executives have been convicted or pleaded guilty to insider trading in the past three years. In the U.S., many of the defendants were found to have generated significant sums of illicit profit. The Japan cases have involved largely lower-level employees, often salespeople, who appear to have used the inside data to curry favor with top clients, rather than to directly enrich themselves or their firms.

日本此次調查內幕交易的背景與美國的調查背景大不相同。過去三年，美國有交易員、分析師和公司高管總計66人因內幕交易被定罪或認罪。在美國，很多內幕交易案的被告都被發現通過內幕交易創造了大量非法利得。日本內幕交易案牽涉的大多是較低層員工(常爲銷售員)，這些員工似乎都是利用內部數據來與高端客戶套近乎，而不是直接爲自己或所屬公司謀私利。

Interviews with more than 30 brokers, institutional investors, hedge funds, regulators, legislators and lawyers suggest an environment in which securities salespeople regularly fed customers gossip and analysis, mixed with scraps of confidential information, in return for business.

記者對日本30多名經紀人、機構投資者、對衝基金、監管者、議員和律師進行採訪後發現，日本存在這樣一種風氣，即證券銷售人員經常通過向客戶爆料來換取業務，其中不乏一些機密信息。

Market players say the pursuit and offer of market-moving information was allowed to spread partly because of widespread ignorance among brokers and investors on just what insider information is and the lack of penalties to punish leakers. Unlike in the U.S., Japanese insider-trading laws apply only to those who directly profit from nonpublic information, not those who leak it. Regulators can impose a sanction on brokers for lax controls, as happened with Nomura.

市場參與者說，以前之所以允許人們尋求並提供影響市場走勢的信息，部分原因一是經紀人和投資者對於內幕交易的定義普遍都不瞭解，二是日本對泄密者缺乏懲處措施。跟美國不一樣，日本內幕交易法僅適用於那些直接從非公開信息中獲利的人，而不適用於泄密的人。監管者可對券商管制鬆懈施以制裁，野村即是一例。

'It seems to have become common practice for securities companies to leak information as part of their business model,' said Tsutomu Okubo, an influential legislator and former Japan managing director of a major U.S. brokerage who is leading a push to tighten insider-trading laws through, for example, establishing penalties for those who leak.

大久保勉(Tsutomu Okubo)是日本一位有影響力的議員，他曾擔任過美國某大型經紀公司日本業務的董事總經理。他說，對於證券公司而言，泄密似乎是其業務模式的組成部分，已經成了家常便飯的事。大久保勉目前正在領導一場使日本內幕交易法更爲嚴格的運動，而其中一個具體措施就是制定對泄密者的處罰措施。