[The expiration date in respect of the System of Changing a Customer's Investor
Category to a Professional Investor under the
Financial Instruments and Exchange Law]
We respectfully announce that the expiration date for changing a customer's Investor Category to a Professional Investor shall be the first coming September 30 after the date of the change .
The Financial Instruments and Exchange Law (the "Law"), which came into effect on 30 September 2007, introduced the Professional Investor System, whereby customers will be divided into two categories, which are "Professional Investor" and "customers other than Professional Investor" (hereinafter referred to as "General Investor").
Where customers are categorized as Professional Investor under the Professional Investor System, the financial instruments business provider may be exempted from some of its obligations, such as delivering documents that explain risks to General Investor before entering into the relevant contract.
Where a customer is categorized into classification (2) or (3) in the following chart, and we accept the customerfs request for changing their Investor Category, it is possible for the customer to change their Investor Category from "Professional Investor" to "General Investor" and vice versa in accordance with each "Type of Relevant Contract" (Article 53 of the Cabinet Order Relating to the Financial Instruments Business).
In principle, the term of changing a custmerfs Investor Category from a General Investor to a Professional Investor expires one year from the date of the change thereof. However, in our case, please note that the expiration date for changing a customerfs Investor Category to a Professional Investor is the first coming September 30 (inclusive of weekends and national holidays) after the date of the change. In addition, if a customer requests us to revert the Investor Category to a General Investor, such change can be made prior to the expiration date.
Where a customer has changed its Investor Category from a General Investor to a Professional Investor, if the aforementioned expiration date has passed without the completion of certain procedures for renewal of the change to a Professional Investor, the customerfs Investor Category will revert to a General Investor. Therefore, we kindly request that any customer who wishes to renew their change of Investor Category to a Professional Investor perform the required procedures before the expiration date.
[Investor Categories]
*Under the Law, there are four classifications of investor, described below. Please be informed that we may decline requests from customers regarding a change of their Investor Category from a General Investor to a Professional Investor, depending on our examination of the appropriateness of their requests.
| Classification | Applicable Investor | |
| Professional Investor | (1) Not permitted to make a transfer to a General Investor | National government, the Bank of Japan, qualified institutional investors |
| (2) Permitted to make a transfer to a General Investor | Stock companies whose paid-in capital is estimated to be 500 million yen or more, issuers of listed shares of stock; tokutei mokuteki kaishas stipulated under Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the Act on Securitization of Assets; local governments; financial instruments business providers; companies who have undertaken certain procedures to conduct exceptional business stipulated under Article 63, Paragraph 3 of the Law; foreign corporations, etc. | |
| General Investor | (3) Permitted to make a transfer to a Professional Investor | Companies other than those described in (1) and (2) above; Individuals who meet certain requirements |
| (4) Not permitted to make a transfer to a Professional Investor | Individuals other than those described in (3) above |
