BarCap Japan hit with 10-day ban

Japanese regulators have banned the local unit of Barclays Capital from some trading operations for 10 business days for violating rules related to short-selling, Japan's first such punishment in five years.

Regulators said Barclays Capital Japan failed to indicate that it was short-selling while conducting trades on the Osaka Securities Exchange for its overseas affiliates during an 18-month period from February 2010.

In addition, Barclays violated the rules by conducting short-selling at prices equal to or lower than the latest published price on Osaka's bourse.

Barclays Capital said that the infractions were the result of a technical error.

It said that after it had discovered the glitch, it told the regulators and suspended transactions with the system that had caused the problem.