Insider trading: Nomura CEO quits

CEO of Japan's biggest brokerage,Nomura Holdings,has resigned; the COO is expected to follow.

Kenichi Watanabe,chief executive officer (CEO) of Japan’s biggest brokerage,Nomura Holdings Inc,has quit today,taking responsibility for a series of insider trading leaks.

Reportedly,the company’s chief operating officer,Takumi Shibata,is also expected to resign following the scandal.

Watanabe,59,is expected to be succeeded by Koji Nagai,a 53-year-old president of Nomura Securities,which is part of the Nomura banking empire.

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Earlier,several officials at the Nomura Securities were found to have leaked insider information to customers,including Chuo Mitsui Asset Trust and Banking Co.,about public share offerings planned by Inpex Corp.,Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Tokyo Electric Power Co,the report said.

Nomura also confirmed the involvement of its officials in leaking inside information to its customers following an ongoing investigation by country’s financial regulators.

Watanabe,who served the company as CEO for four years,during which he and Shibata,59,oversaw the purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Asian and European businesses.