(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. faces a ￥21.8 million ($152,000) fine for allegedly manipulating the Japanese government bond futures market, a setback for the nation’s biggest brokerage during a revival of trading in the securities.

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An employee at the company’s domestic securities unit is suspected of fraudulently moving JGB futures prices in 2021, the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said in a statement Wednesday. The dealer profited by placing large orders without intending to buy or sell all of them, the watchdog said.

The potential fine, while small, may hurt Nomura’s reputation at a time when it is refocusing on Japan as a key growth area for its trading and investment banking business. The nation’s bond market has come back to life after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates and scrapped a policy of controlling bond yields earlier this year.

The act is serious and undermines the credibility of a securities firm as a gatekeeper in the market, an SESC official said. The watchdog opted to penalize the company, rather than the individual, because the employee was trading for Nomura’s own account and the firm was responsible for the ensuing profit, the official said at a news briefing in Tokyo.

“We take this matter very seriously and apologize to our clients and all other concerned parties for the trouble this has caused,” Nomura said in a statement. “We have been working to revise our JGB futures trading operations since these transactions occurred.” The firm also pledged to continue to improve internal controls to prevent a recurrence.

Asset managers might take their bond trading business elsewhere for a certain period, said Hideyasu Ban, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. Still, he added, “the market may not go so far as to think that the firm’s earnings will heavily suffer in a blow to its stock price.”

Shares of Nomura closed 1.5% lower in Tokyo on Wednesday, after the Yomiuri newspaper reported the probe. The stock has gained 21% this year.

The SESC recommends fines to the Financial Services Agency, Japan’s financial regulator, which usually carries them out weeks later. Securities firms have been penalized for manipulation of the Japanese government bond futures market in recent years, leading to a loss in business.