Japan: Pension fund manager investigated for large losses

AIJ Investment Advisors, a Japan investment firm probed over huge pension loss

TOKYO: Japan froze operations Friday at an investment firm accused of losing most of the $2.3 billion in pension funds it manages, as a report said it may have hidden losses for years in an Olympus-style scandal. The head of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), Shozaburo Jimi, suspended AIJ Investment Advisors until March 23 as it carries out a probe into one of the biggest cases of its kind in the country. "The FSA, together with the labour ministry, will take every possible step to prevent this kind of incident from happening again," he said, adding the agency would probe all 263 of Japan's investment management firms as soon as possible.

They also include a handful of big-name firms, including technology companies Advantest and Yaskawa Electric.

02/24/2012 | 04:25am Advantest Corp : Regarding Advantest Corporate Pension Funds Placed with AIJ Investment Advisors In an article in today's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, AIJ Investment Advisors Co., Ltd, a corporate pension fund advisor, was reported to have allegedly mishandled investors' funds. Advantest was listed as having placed corporate pension funds with AIJ. At present, Advantest is working swiftly to investigate the situation, but has not yet been able to verify the facts. As such, any losses or other effects this finding has caused are not yet clear. Advantest's corporate pension fund has placed approximately 1.7 billion yen with AIJ, representing about 8% of total fund assets. Further details will be announced as soon as available. link