Press Conference by SUZUKI Shunichi, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, November 5, 2021, 11:59 am to 12:12 pm)

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange decided to extend the trading hours by 30 minutes. What do you think of that? Additionally, could you explain your expectation toward the achievement of Japan's position as an international financial center from the perspective of strengthening the Japanese financial industry's international competitiveness?

A.

As you said, I know that the Tokyo Stock Exchange announced its intention to make preparations to extend the trading hours by 30 minutes in FY2024. This responds to environmental changes surrounding markets, such as the globalization of securities trading. Also, this increases the possibility to resume trading within the same day as the event of a temporary suspension of trading, reflecting on the incident of last October in which a system failure caused the suspension of trading for a whole day. I expect that these efforts will strengthen Japan's market functions for attracting investments from inside and outside Japan and enhancing Japan's international competitiveness.