Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 22 - 28 [SCANDAL]

Pension fund-managing firms must be monitored more strictly: JCP Sasaki

Japanese Communist Party representative Sasaki Kensho took up the issue of missing pension funds managed by an investment advisory firm and urged the government to drastically strengthen its poor monitoring of such companies on February 24 at a Lower House finance committee meeting.

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission earlier on the day found that most of 210 billion yen in 124 domestic companies’ pension funds managed by AIJ Investment Advisors Co. had disappeared. The commission ordered the firm to suspend its operation for a month.

Sasaki questioned the kind of monitoring system the Financial Services Agency has on investment advisory companies, stating that the recent revelation may be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

The agency’s supervisory bureau director explained that the bureau picks up companies based on relevant information for screening. Cabinet Office Senior Vice-Minister Nakatsuka Ikko said that the government will urgently carry out investigations on all 263 investment advisory companies.

Criticizing the current monitoring system as too spotty, Sasaki demanded a strict and periodic on-site monitoring system targeting all 263 firms.

It was discovered on February 25 that AIJ had transferred corporate pension assets to a fund it established in the Cayman Islands.

The number of investment advisory firms in Japan has rapidly increased since September 2007 when related laws were deregulated so that government approval is no longer needed for the launch of such companies.