JAPAN

Panel to Supervise Securities Industry Reportedly Planned: The government will propose establishing an independent committee to guard against unfair trading practices in Japan’s scandal-ridden securities industry, a Finance Ministry official said last week. The ministry’s plan calls for a committee with three members and 80 administrative personnel to be set up in July, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said a bill to establish the committee will be submitted to the next parliamentary session, scheduled next month. The move follows disclosures that more than a dozen securities firms had paid favored clients a total of about $1 billion as compensation for stock trading losses