The Finance Ministry said it will allowmore foreign brokers to participate in government note auctions
from April by abolishing a requirement that participants have
current accounts with the Bank of Japan.
    This will allow 18 more Japanese branches of foreign-owned
brokerages to bid, it said. Currently 22 foreign brokers are
allowed to bid.
    Bidders for two, three and four-year notes must be members
of the underwriting syndicate for five-year discount notes and
10 and 20-year government bonds.
    New tender participants are: Vickers da Costa Ltd; Bache
Securities Ltd; Smith Barney, Harris Upham International Inc;
Jardine Fleming Securities Ltd; Kidder Peabody and Co Ltd;
Goldman, Sachs International Corp; Morgan Stanley Co Ltd; S.G.
Warburg and Co Ltd; First Boston Co Ltd; Kleinwort Benson
International Inc; Schroder Securities Ltd; Deutsche Bank AG;
EF Hutton Ltd; Shearson Lehman Brothers Asia Inc; Dresdner Bank
AG; Swiss Union Philips and Drew Ltd; Sogen Security Corp and
Swiss Bank Corp International Asia Inc.
    Only these 18 Japanese branches of foreign-owned brokers
would meet other existing requirements to participate.
 REUTER
