The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is considering recommending administrative action against MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.

According to the report, MUFG Bank and the securities firms shared non-public information on integration of client companies without their consent. The bank implied that it would offer preferential lending rates on the condition of doing business with the brokerages.

If recommended, the Financial Services Agency will consider action such as a business improvement order by the end this month, the Nikkei said.

When asked about the report at a regular news briefing in Tokyo on Friday, finance minister Shunichi Suzuki said he was unable to comment on individual cases, while adding that “I believe the SESC will take firm action and an announcement will be made in due course.”

A spokesperson for Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities said the company hasn’t received any recommendation by the SESC. Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities said in a statement that it wasn’t the source of the report. An MUFG Bank representative declined to comment.

Shares of MUFG, Japan’s biggest banking group, fell 2.3% on Friday morning, the worst performer on the Topix Banks index.

Japanese law prohibits the sharing of customer information between banks and securities firms without consent. In 2022, regulators found firewall violations as part of a probe into market manipulation at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc’s securities arm.

In that case, the FSA told Sumitomo Mitsui and its commercial banking arm to report on why the lender shared clients’ information improperly with the brokerage subsidiary.