Japan's financial regulator Friday ordered French bank BNP Paribas to suspend part of its operations in the country for two weeks for fixing stock prices and submitting an inaccurate report. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) instructed the bank to halt business by its derivatives division from November 2 to November 16, and to "clarify the responsibility of the management and staff regarding the violation."
Japan's securities watchdog had last week recommended disciplinary action against BNP Paribas for falsifying a document relating to now-bankrupt property developer Urban Corp and for fixing stock prices. A trader at the bank sent a massive buy order for a stock on the Tokyo market on November 5, 2008 just before the close for the purpose of fixing the stock prices, the FSA said in a statement.
"Purchasing of securities for the purpose of fixing prices of specific listed financial instruments is an aggravated behaviour which reduces the fairness and transparency of the securities markets," it said. BNP Paribas Tokyo branch said in a statement that it took the order "very seriously and is focused on further enhancing governance and controls to prevent future incidents."