received capital contribution, had lent its name to an unregistered business operator to solicit customers for the purchase of funds using pamphlets stating yields, etc., at levels without reasonable grounds. In addition, with regard to investment advisories/agencies, the SESC found cases in which operators who were not registered as type I or type II financial instruments business operators acted as intermediaries for OTC derivatives and engaged in offerings of overseas funds, etc. Further, there was an investment manager who, despite an existing discretionary investment contract with a pension fund, did not take the necessary actions on trades that were deemed unfavorable to the trust fund and caused losses to the pension fund, thereby breaching his duty of care. In cases where a serious violation of laws or regulations was found, including the financial instruments business operators involved in these cases, the SESC has made recommendations for administrative disciplinary actions.

Furthermore, the SESC has also filed petitions for court injunctions pursuant to Article 192 "Prohibition Order or Order for Suspension Issued by Court" of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) against financial instruments business operators which committed violations of the FIEA such as by providing customers with false information for fund solicitation and selling funds without proper registration. Additionally, as a result of investigations and inspections of persons making notifications for businesses specially permitted for qualified institutional investors, etc., the SESC also announced the names of financial instruments business operators which had violated relevant laws and regulations such as by soliciting customers for a fund purchase without obtaining a capital contribution from a qualified institutional investor, thereby failing to meet the special eligibility for operating the business permitted for qualified institutional investors and providing customers with false information for fund solicitation; and financial instruments business operators with issues from the investor protection point of view, including misappropriation of received funds, careless monitoring of subscriptions to and performance of the related fund, issuance of performance reports containing false statements, and dividend payouts using funds received while there is no income from investments.

With respect to market misconduct, the SESC made recommendations for administrative monetary penalty payment orders against several cases, including an officer of a tender offeror committing insider trading based on information on the scheduled TOB obtained during the course of his/her duties, with several individuals who received such information from the officer also committing insider trading, and market manipulation in a manner intended to raise the share prices by placing buying orders at high limit prices and executing them at high prices, and by matching buying orders and selling orders placed at high limits at around the same time for the purpose of inducing sales and purchases of the shares.

In addition, with respect to cases of market misconduct by both Japanese and foreign professional investors using cross-border transactions, etc., the SESC, in close collaboration with overseas regulators with the aid of a global framework for cooperation and information exchange, conducted close investigation of market manipulation cases including those done through selling and buying orders for the purpose of inducing market trading of derivatives without any intention of executing them, a large volume of orders 30 seconds before the close of the market in sync with a change in the constituents of a stock index and a corporate entity which had been subject to an SESC recommendation to issue an administrative monetary payment order in the past. As a result, the SESC also made recommendations for administrative monetary penalty payment orders.