The Financial Services Agency issued a business improvement order Friday to the Nagoya Stock Exchange due to its failure to protect confidential information in violation of the Securities and Exchange Law.
The nation's financial watchdog instructed the bourse to strengthen its information management and report to the FSA on the measures it has taken to this end by Sept. 30. It is also demanding quarterly progress reports.
According to FSA officials, the agency received information regarding a firm listed on the bourse from a certain individual in July.
The agency then relayed this information to the NSE. However, in trying to validate the information in question, a bourse official notified the company of the informant, despite the agency's instructions that such private information be strictly controlled.
It is the first time the agency took administrative punishment against the NSE. The FSA issued similar orders to the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2003 and the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004.
The NSE apologized in a statement over the scandal and pledged to make efforts to prevent a recurrence.
NSE Managing Director Yasuo Sawada told reporters at the exchange later in the evening that the bourse intends to reprimand the staffer in question by the end of the month.