FTC warns TSE over 'coercive' stock fee policy, daily says.

Japan Weekly Monitor, May, 2003

TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has warned the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) over its allegedly forcing brokerage houses to levy certain levels of fees on short-sellers, a practice the FTC views as incompatible with the free market, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Wednesday.

The FTC alleges in the warning issued last month that the TSE applied covert force to call on two brokerages to review their fees by claiming the fees set by the two were too low, according to the daily.

The warning, the first of its kind from the FTC to the TSE, is not legally binding and is intended to preempt antimonopoly law violations, but it could damage investor trust in the TSE, which is supposed to be a watchdog against fraud in the market,...