What’s New on the FSA Website

Week of February 3, 2020 - February 7, 2020

This page contains the latest in events, developments, and updates to the FSA website.

Public Comments

(The following public comments are available in Japanese)

February 5, 2020

Publication of the finalized amendments to the "Order on Transfer Account Management Institution" <Summary> The FSA finalized the amendments to the "Order on Transfer Account Management Institution." In response to ongoing requests from stakeholders (designated domestic superior institutions of foreign account management institutions) to expedite and simplify the proceedings with regard to the application for designation of foreign account management institutions and the notification of changes thereto, the amendments mainly improve the proceedings by allowing the filing of notifications by superior institutions in case of mere changes in their own trade names or other such changes.

February 3, 2020

Publication of the draft amendments to the "Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business" <Summary> The FSA proposed the draft amendments to the "Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business." The proposal mainly intends to update the appended form of the said Cabinet Office Order in accordance with the amendments to the regulatory notices pertaining to Pillar 1 requirements of capital adequacy (promulgated on March 15, 2019).

Press Releases

(The following press releases are available in English)

Others

February 7, 2020	Updated list of issuers of gift certificates in repayment procedures based on the "Payment Services Act"
February 5, 2020	IFIAR announced the results of a four-year initiative to reduce the inspection findings rate
February 5, 2020	Game companies are required to notify the Japanese authority (Local Finance Bureau) in accordance with the Payment Services Act.(Available in Japanese, English and Chinese)

 

(The following press releases are available in Japanese)

Banks

February 7, 2020

Publication of the draft "Core Issues for Contributing to the Enhancement of Regional Financial Institutions' Business Management and Governance – The Shift from the 'Formalities-Oriented' Approach to 'Substance-Oriented (Future-oriented)' Approach" (provisional English title) <Summary> The FSA proposed the draft "Core Issues for Contributing to the Enhancement of Regional Financial Institutions' Business Management and Governance – The Shift from the 'Formalities-Oriented' Approach to 'Substance-Oriented (Future-Oriented)' Approach" (provisional English title). The proposal is primarily intended for the presidents and the boards of directors of regional banks to assess and review the state of their business management and governance by outlining the core issues for contributing to the enhancement of the effectiveness of their business management and governance. The proposal is also intended to update the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision of Regional Financial Institutions" in response to requests from regional financial institutions to share examples of quantitative indicators which are deemed useful in developing and implementing their business strategies.

 

Others

February 7, 2020	Publication of the updated column titled "Candid Roundtable Talks on the Tsumitate NISA (Dollar-Cost Averaging NISA)" (provisional English title) on a subpage of the "NISA Official Promotion Webpage" with the sixth volume of a series of roundtable talks <Summary> The FSA published the updated column titled "Candid Roundtable Talks on the Tsumitate NISA (Dollar-Cost Averaging NISA)" (provisional English title) on a subpage of the "NISA Official Promotion Webpage," with the sixth volume of a series of roundtable talks. The column mainly shares informative quotes from a series of candid roundtable talks between four experienced individual investors and a non-investor (a married working mother with young children) who currently has second thoughts on investment in terms of building assets (for being overwhelmed by an abundance of Tsumitate NISA (Dollar-Cost Averaging NISA) account options offered by numerous financial institutions, which makes it hard to pick out one), wherein the experienced individual investors clarify/share their respective ideas on personal portfolio management in a practical manner from a child-rearing household perspective which may provide hesitant non-investors with some helpful insights into finding their own optimal portfolio management strategies for household asset building through control over savings and investment according to the respective life stages and objectives.
February 7, 2020	Request for measures (including financial measures) to deal with the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) <Summary> The FSA issued the statement titled "Measures (Including Financial Measures) in Response to the Report of the Outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (nCoV)" to financial institutions (including bankers associations, etc.). The statement requests that financial institutions cooperate with relevant parties and appropriately deal with nCoV-affected parties considering their circumstances, such as by attentively responding to the needs of business management consultations and new loans or changes of loan terms. The statement also requests that financial institutions gather the latest information on nCoV shared by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA); be thorough about cleaning and sterilizing their workplaces and tracking employees' health status; and be fully ready to take every possible measure if an employee is found to have contracted nCoV.
February 6, 2020	Revision of the FSA-related cabinet office orders and the relevant applicable comprehensive guidelines in accordance with the enforcement of the "Act for Partial Revision of the Civil Code" (Act No. 149 of 1999) and the "Act to Adjust Related Acts to Coordinate with the Coming into Effect of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code" (Act No. 45 of June 2, 2017) <Summary> The FSA updated the FSA-related cabinet office orders and the relevant applicable comprehensive guidelines in accordance with the enforcement of the "Act for Partial Revision of the Civil Code" (Act No. 149 of 1999) and the "Act to Adjust Related Acts to Coordinate with the Coming into Effect of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code" (Act No. 45 of June 2, 2017). The revision mainly pertains to technical amendments to the FSA-related cabinet office orders and the relevant applicable comprehensive guidelines to reflect the amendments to the said Acts.
February 6, 2020	Publication of the updated list of financial institutions signing up to the "Principles for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct" and publicizing their respective customer-oriented business conduct and KPIs (key performance indicators) (as of the end of December, 2019) <Summary> The FSA updated the list of financial institutions signing up to the "Principles for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct" and publicizing their respective customer-oriented business conduct and KPIs (key performance indicators) inclusive of the common KPIs comparable across investment trust distributors by the end of December 2019 in order to visualize financial institutions' initiatives and efforts. The FSA intends to encourage financial institutions to further "visualize" their customer-oriented business conduct.
February 6, 2020	Publication of the monitoring results pertaining to the implementation status of customer-oriented business conduct taken by financial institutions (as of the end of December 2019) <Summary> The FSA has been monitoring financial institutions from macro- and micro-perspectives as to whether their business approaches and initiatives reflect customer-oriented business conduct on a regular basis. To further ensure their "visualization" of such customer-oriented business approaches and initiatives from the external customer perspective, the FSA has published the updated monitoring results pertaining to the implementation status of customer-oriented business conduct taken by financial institutions as of the end of December 2019.
February 5, 2020	New one-stop access to information on the FSA officials' voluntary onsite collaborative initiatives to address regional economic (business) issues <Summary> The FSA newly added a subpage to its website to provide one-stop access to information on the FSA officials' voluntary onsite collaborative initiatives for addressing regional economic (business) issues. Voluntary FSA officials who were interested in revitalizing the regional economy have launched a support team under the framework of FSA's "Open Policy Laboratory" which was established in October 2018 as a platform for making voluntary initiatives with the aim of the further development of young FSA officials and of novelty and originality in their policymaking. In July 2019, the FSA established a dedicated office to provide organizational support to the team. The support team members are aiming to work on the creation of the regional (economy/business) ecosystem toward the solution of regional issues, in collaboration with the officials of state organs, local governments, and financial institutions who play an active part in each region, through a series of dialogues among such stakeholders and by promoting organic coordination and efforts therein.
February 3, 2020	Call for participation in the consultation meeting for an annual update of EDINET Taxonomy <Summary> The FSA announced the call for participation in the consultation meeting for an annual update of EDINET Taxonomy to be held on March 4, 2020.