Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection with the Tokyo District Court following a failure of its parent firm Monday, sources with the company said on Tuesday.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange announced it will halt all trading andfutures trading of Lehman shares from Tuesday.

The bankruptcy of the unit is the second largest corporate collapse in terms of debts in postwar Japan.

The fourth-largest U.S. securities house filed for bankruptcy protection Monday in New York after bailout talks faltered over the weekend.

Lehman Brothers Japan is required to suspend operations for 12 days to Sept. 26 after Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) received the filing for bankruptcy.

In order to prevent Lehman assets being transferred offshore, the FSA also ordered the unit to retain certain assets within Japan to protect investors here.

Lehman Brothers Japan manages about 1.2 trillion yen worth of assets, mainly for institutional investors, according to FSA sources.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2008)