TOKYO—Japan's financial regulator said it has halted operations of a little-known Tokyo money-management company after finding it has allegedly lost billions of yen in client money.
Shozaburo Jimi, the minister responsible for regulation in the financial-services industry, said that the Financial Services Agency, will scrutinize operations at all 263 investment management firms in business in Japan as a result of the AIJ case.
In one of the biggest cases of its kind in Japan, Japan's FSA Friday said investigators have been probing 120 cases involving clients of AIJ Investment Advisors Co., which manages corporate pension funds. Investigators found that AIJ has lost "most of'' the ¥183 billion, or about $2.3 billion, in pension-fund assets it had under management, FSA officials said.
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The FSA said it couldn't comment on details, including why the money was missing or the exact amount of losses found. The agency has ordered the firm to suspend operations for a month.
Phone calls to AIJ's office in central Tokyo were directed to a voicemail system that told callers to try again later. The firm's Internet site says it was founded in 1989, capitalized at ¥230 million.
Microchip testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. and industrial robot maker Yaskawa Electric Corp. confirmed that they are among the clients that placed pension money with AIJ, but declined to specify how much.
A Yaskawa spokesman described the company's investments with AIJ as "very minor," accounting for less than 2% of all its pension fund investments.
—Atsuko Fukase contributed
to this article
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@dowjones.com and Kenneth Maxwell at kenneth.maxwell@dowjones.com
AIJ Investment Advisors Co., AIJ, FSA, Financial Services Agency, Japan, Yaskawa Electric Corp., Advantest Corp., pension money, FSA officials, corporate pension funds
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