Commission Deregulation and Performance of Securities Firms: Further Evidence from Japan

Abstract

This study explores the impacts on small securities firms' performance of the multi-stage commission deregulation in Japan from 1994 to 1999. Different from previous findings, market volume does not rise while commission rates fall following each phase of the deregulation. Therefore, securities firms' stock performance tends to decline as the deregulation proceeds, contrasting with the stock price increase reported previously. Moreover, the negative price effect tends to vary with firm size and deregulation phase, consistent with the fact that securities firms of different sizes depend to different extent on commission income from transactions covered by different phases of the deregulation.