Tokyo Stock Exchange Imposes Penalty On Mizuho Investors Securities Co., Ltd.

TSE imposed a penalty on Mizuho Investors Securities Co., Ltd.("Mizuho Investors") of a fine of JPY 10 million and requested a business improvement report for the act of making a series of transactions to create an artificial market.

On February 4, 2003, an executive staff member at the dealing group of the Equity Department of Mizuho Investors placed, in the course of the business, a series of buy orders of a certain listed stock at TSE, with the aim of causing the stock price fall without temporary suspensions of stock trade due to the indication of the special quote, and thereby, to make it possible that buy orders for the company's own account could be immediately executed with customer's sell orders at a considerably lower price (259yen) than the recent execution price in the TSE (275yen).

The foregoing acts of the company are acknowledged to fall under the ''act of making a series of transactions for the sale or purchase of a security to create an artificial market without any reflection of the actual state of the market'' provided for in Item (3), Article 4 of the Ordinance of Cabinet Office Concerning Regulation, etc. of Conducts of Securities Company based upon Item (9), Paragraph 1 of Article 42 under the Securities and Exchange Law.