Bloomberg reports today: “An advisory panel may urge the government to relax rules that separate banks and brokerages, the Nikkei newspaper reported. The Financial System Council will announce today that it will study the issue and seek to have its conclusions incorporated into the government’s reform framework for 2007 to be released by June, the report said.”

It mentions, ” Japan is the only industrialized nation that makes a clear distinction between them.”

Now the good stuff: “The possible change may prompt small brokerages to search for buyers of themselves to survive while leading players like Nomura look for more capital tie-ups. The move may increase takeover speculation in the market.” [Bloomberg]

Keep reading to learn about one of our favorite brokerages.

We suggest looking at Aizawa Securities / ????. It trades on the JASDAQ (JP: 8708). Aizawa has a price to book ratio of 0.83, P/E of 8.47 and a yield of 3.7% (these are all trailing figures). Its market cap is about $400 million. It stands out as a leading brokerage in Asian stocks, which continue to be popular among Japanese retail investors, especially Vietnam, South Korea, China and India.

As is the case with any value stock, you need to give it time and have patience. Additionally, we suggest building a position here as opposed to dropping a lump sum investment. One of the biggest risks is another global stock sell-off, which could result in a decline in trading activity for Aizawa, meaning reduced revenues from commissions.

It reached a calendar year high on 2/26 at ¥1,109 yen. Its low was established on Jan. 5 at ¥790. It closed 0.85% higher to ¥945 today.