A mid the public uproar over insider trading prompted by the arrest of investment fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami, the Diet quickly enacted a new law to regulate transactions involving financial products on June 7. The legislation combines the previous Securities and Exchange and other laws in an attempt to beef up investor pro- tection -- an area where such efforts have been long, long overdue.

One of the major legal changes concerns investment funds. Private or anonymous unions that manage investor money will now be required to register the names of their representatives and the location of their headquarters.

Rules on disclosure for shares owned by the funds were also tightened. Investment funds were previously required to report acquisitions of up to 10 percent in another company within three months. Now they have to report them every two weeks, while ordinary companies must report acquisitions exceeding 5 percent of another firm within five business days.