A pension fund based in Nagano Prefecture said it invested with AIJ Investment Advisors Co., whose business has been suspended by regulators, because it was run by a former Nomura Holdings Inc. manager and offered 7 percent returns.
"We believed in such high returns as we were assured that the business is being led by a former Nomura branch manager," Toshiro Katsuno, a board member of Koshinetsu Printers Association Pension Fund, said Monday. "People become blind in front of such a big name."
Katsuno said the association manages about ¥10 billion in pension assets for 3,000 print workers in Nagano Prefecture. It began investing with AIJ in 2005 and still has "a significant portion" of assets with the firm, he said, declining to specify how much.