was a Japanese securities trading firm. The company announced it would cease operations on November 24, 1997 and was declared bankrupt by the

Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. See also *Judicial system of Japan In the judicial system of Japan, the Constitution of Japan guarantees that "all judges shall be independent in the exercise of thei ...

on June 2, 1999.

History

Yamaichi, formed in 1897, was at one time one of the four major Japanese brokerages. Its clients were major Japanese corporations. In the boom of the 1980s it was given specified sums of money by 10 of its clients to invest as it saw fit. A sharp downturn in the early 1990s and poor dealings by Yamaichi generated losses of more than 200 billion yen. Fearing the demise of the firm through loss of reputation that would result if the scale of losses became known, the brokerage shouldered the loss of its clients, and moved it off balance sheet. Yamaichi sold in a private placement

Touchwood Pacific Partners Touchwood Pacific Partners I is an American film financing limited partnership formed by The Walt Disney Company in 1990 for its then three production companies, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures, but owned by Yamai ...

limited partnership to about 50 Japanese institutional or private investors in the amount of $191 million in 1990 for

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

film production.

''Tobashi'' and collapse

In January 1992, Yamaichi executives resorted to such a ''tobashi'' scheme, setting up a separate company called Yamaichi Enterprise which opened an account at the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

branch of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

-based

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

. Depositing ¥200 billion in Japanese

government bonds A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of bond issued by a government to support public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called coupon payments'','' and to repay the face value on the maturity da ...

, the Yamaichi

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

then used the dummy companies to generate profits for clients while eventually absorbing losses of ¥158.3 billion. A separate scheme using foreign

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

bonds resulted in losses of ¥106.5 billion being hidden in Yamaichi's

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n subsidiary. The magazine ''

Weekly Toyo Keizai is a weekly business and finance magazine published in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1895 it is one of the earliest business publications in the country. History and profile The magazine was established in 1895 under the name ''Toyo Keizai Shimpo''. ...

'' uncovered the fraud in April 1997. For its journalism the magazine was awarded the

Editors' Choice Magazine Journalism Award The is an annual prize for journalism awarded by a coalition of Japanese publishing companies since 1995. Participating companies include mainstream publishers like Kodansha, Shinchosha, and Bungeishunjū. Past awards References

{{Reflist ...

. Tsugio Yukihira, chairman of the brokerage at the time of its collapse, acknowledged in front of a Japanese Diet hearing that the activities were illegal. He said that only three people at the brokerage, namely himself former President Atsuo Miki and another individual, knew about the arrangements; he declined to name the 10 firms involved in the illegal trading. The company announced it would cease operations on November 24, 1997 and was declared bankrupt by the

on June 2, 1999. The company's last president, Shohei Nozawa made a tearful public apology on Japanese television. Japan's Minister of Finance announced that steps would be taken to ensure the event would not further destabilize the frail Japanese banking system and economy as a whole. On June 1, 2001, the company's last chairman, Tsugio Yukihira, settled a lawsuit filed in Tokyo District Court. Suitors alleged his window-dressing tobashi schemes and illegal dealings had undermined the brokerage and led to its demise.

References

External links

Statement by the Governor of the Bank of Japan
{{Authority control Financial services companies based in Tokyo Financial services companies established in 1897 Financial services companies disestablished in 1999 Japanese companies established in 1897 Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Japan Japanese companies disestablished in 1999