Nomura Holdings, Japan's securities industry leader, on June 29 announced it would halve CEO Kenichi Watanabe's pay for six months and COO Takumi Shibata's pay for five months to take responsibility for a series of confidential information leaks by Nomura Securities employees to clients on upcoming share offerings, which surfaced in and after March. The latest series of inside information leaks on upcoming share offerings to investors, including banks, have ruined the reputation not only of the Nomura group but also of Japan's securities markets. Daiwa and SMBC Nikko were also found to be involved in similar scandals.

The Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission should carry out a thorough investigation to get the whole picture of the Nomura scandal. The Nomura group should find out what organizational problems and corporate culture-related problems it has and ensure that its employees will never repeat the act of leaking inside information.

The scandal involved information leaks on the planned public offering of a large number of shares by Inpex Corp., Mizuho Financial Group and Tokyo Electric Power Co.