Is Nomura implementing stricter rules after the ban?

Nomura Holdings resumed broking services for Japan's public pension fund, the manager of more than $1 trillion of retirement assets, after a three-month ban following allegations of insider trading at the securities firm.

Government Pension Investment Fund lifted its ban on July 9 after Nomura, Japan's biggest brokerage, submitted a report to regulators detailing how it will improve internal controls, said Kouichi Nojima, a councilor at the fund, in a telephone interview.

Nomura lost some broking mandates from Japanese asset managers after a former employee at its mergers and acquisitions department was arrested in April on insider trading charges.

The Tokyo-based company is among the top third of brokers regularly used by the fund for trading securities including Japanese government bonds and corporate bonds, said Seiichi Kusakabe, the fund's head of in-house trading.

Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered Nomura to improve internal controls and compliance on July 3.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Li Yu, a former Nomura employee, and two other Chinese citizens in April. Li was charged with insider trading, prosecutors said in June. Nomura fired Li, the brokerage said at a press conference on April 22.

Japan's Pension Fund Association, which manages 13.2 trillion yen of retirement assets, also said in April it would stop placing stock-broking and bond-trading orders through Nomura until the regulator completed its probe and Nomura demonstrated its compliance with regulations.

The association's officials declined to comment if it resumed its trading or not.

How could Nomura's operations be affected by this issue?