Takasumi Munakata On March 7 2013, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) published its proposal for the comprehensive revision of short selling regulations. Those proposed revisions will be subject to public comment until April 8, at which point the FSA will consider any comments received and amend the relevant regulations and ordinances. The FSA has advised that it expects the proposed new regulations to come into force around November 2013. Short selling is the sale of security by a party that does not hold the security at the time of sale. The short selling of securities benefits the market, as it allows for investors who do not hold the subject securities and expect that the price of the subject securities will decrease to express this opinion to the market, which can then be reflected in the price of such share. In addition, short selling also contributes to market liquidity. Where the market price of a security is declining, however, short selling of the security may exacerbate such decline, and may encourage unfair trading practices, such as so-called bear raids. In order to mitigate this risk, as well as other risks associated with it, short selling is carefully regulated in Japan.
March 22 2013