What’s New on the FSA Website

Week of December 24, 2021 - January 6, 2022

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

Public Comments

December 28, 2021	Publication of the finalized amendments to the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision for Insurance Companies" <Summary> The FSA finalized the amendments to the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision for Insurance Companies." When insurance companies and insurance agents engage in insurance solicitation, it is vital that they understand the intentions of their customers, and offer insurance policies that meet those intentions. The amendments clarify the supervisory viewpoint that, as private insurance is a means to supplement public insurance, insurance contracts should be concluded on the basis that: a) solicitors have appropriate understanding of the public insurance system; and b) solicitors provide necessary information regarding the public insurance system to customers, thereby enabling customers to choose insurance products with the understanding of their own risks and necessary coverage. The amendments took effect on December 28, 2021. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/hoken/20211228/20211228.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of the draft "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business, etc." <Summary> The FSA published the draft "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business, etc." The proposal was made in response to the recommendation made in the second report published by the "Working Group on Capital Market Regulations" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council in June 2021, in regard to the relaxation of firewall regulations on sharing corporate clients' non-public information held by a listed company, etc. With respect to non-public information, etc. of the subject corporation, such as a listed company, etc., in regard to the transfer of information between a financial instruments business operator and a bank or any other financial institution that is in a parent-subsidiary relationship, etc., the proposal mainly intends to set forth that the consent of the said corporation shall not be required, while certain measures shall be taken to respond to a request for suspension of the transfer of information, etc.  (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/shouken/20211224-3/20211224-3.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of the finalized regulatory notice designating the rules of Financial Instruments Firms Associations certified by the FSA, in accordance with Article 6, Paragraph (1), Item (iv) of the "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Cabinet Office Order on Transactions under Article 161-2 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and Deposits Related Thereto" <Summary> The FSA published the finalized regulatory notice designating the rules of Financial Instruments Firms Associations certified by the FSA in accordance with Article 6, Paragraph (1), Item (iv) of the "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Cabinet Office Order on Transactions under Article 161-2 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and Deposits Related Thereto." The finalized regulatory notice mainly designates the rules of financial instruments firms associations certified by the FSA in response to the enforcement of the said Cabinet Office Order, by which the current price and applicable rate regarding "substitute securities" in terms of margin transactions of foreign listed stocks and others have been expressly set out in the rules of the said associations. The regulatory notice will take effect on July 1, 2022. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/shouken/20211224/20211224.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of the draft amendments to the regulatory notices pertaining to leverage ratio requirements <Summary> The FSA proposed the draft amendments to the regulatory notices pertaining to leverage ratio requirements. The proposal intends to extend for another two years (until the end of March 2024) temporal measure to exclude the outstanding balance of financial institutions' current accounts at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) from the calculation of leverage ratio exposures. The FSA also proposed that non-internationally active banks that only use standardized approaches, may defer their implementation of the finalized Basel III framework until the end of March 2025. Both of these measures are based on the "Economic Measures to Overcome New Coronavirus Infections and to Carve out a New Era," (finalized by the Japanese Government on November 19, 2021). (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20211224-4.html

Press Releases

International 

January 4, 2022	Updated : International Financial Center Website
January 4, 2022	Financial Services Agency has launched an official LinkedIn Page
December 27, 2021	Letter to the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the IFRS Foundation regarding the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)

 

Publication

December 27, 2021	FSA publishes English translation of monthly magazine, Access FSA No.219

 

Policies

December 24, 2021

Publication of the request for budget, organization, and staff for FY 2022 (draft) <Summary> The FSA published a (draft) overview of the request for budget, organization, and staff for FY 2022. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/common/budget/yosan/4oukyuu-4.html

December 24, 2021

Publication of the "Key FSA-Related Items in the Outline for the FY 2022 Tax Reform" <Summary> Based on the cabinet decision made on December 24, 2021, mainly in regard to the outline for the FY 2022 Tax Reform, the FSA published the "Key FSA-Related Items in the Outline for the FY 2022 Tax Reform." (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/sonota/20211224.html

Councils

January 4, 2022

Publication of a summary of discussions of the "Sub-Committee on the Certified Public Accountants System" of the Financial System Council <Summary> The FSA published a summary of discussions of the past three meetings of the "Sub-Committee on the Certified Public Accountants System" of the Financial System Council, which were held in 2021. The summary of discussions of the said Sub-Committee will hereafter be presented at the general meeting of the Financial System Council and the meeting of the Sectional Committee on Financial System. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/singi/singi_kinyu/tosin/20220104.html

December 28, 2021

Publication of the agenda and handouts of the fifth meeting of the "Working Group on Payment Services" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council <Summary> The FSA published the agenda and handouts of the fifth meeting of the "Working Group on Payment Services" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council, which was held on December 28, 2021. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/singi/singi_kinyu/shikinkessai_wg/shiryou/ shikinkessai_wg5.html

 

Banks

December 27, 2021	Overview of modifications to lending conditions by financial institutions  <Summary> The FSA published an overview of modifications to lending conditions made by financial institutions for the period from March 10, 2020, to November 30, 2021. * The majority of the data reflects the figures until November 30, 2021, whereas the data of cooperative financial institutions reflects the figures until September 30, 2021. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/ordinary/coronavirus202001/kashitsuke/20200430.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of a statistical report on financing by financial institutions for enterprises utilizing the "Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners" <Summary> The FSA published a statistical report on financing by financial institutions for enterprises utilizing the "Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners." The report reflects the period between April 1 and September 30, 2021. (The report is regularly published to further promote the utilization of the Guidelines). (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20211224.html
December 24, 2021	Establishment of a contact point for collecting information in regard to the prevention of abuse of a dominant bargaining position in financial service transactions <Summary> In tandem with the relaxation of firewall regulations on sharing domestic corporate clients' non-public information, etc., the FSA has decided to establish a contact point for collecting information from the perspective of preventing abuse of a dominant bargaining position in financial service transactions. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20211224-2.html
December 24, 2021	Approval of the business adaptation plan for THE KYOTO CHUO SHINKIN BANK  <Summary> The FSA approved and published the business adaptation plan for THE KYOTO CHUO SHINKIN BANK based on the "Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act." (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20211224_2/20211224_2.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of a progress report on Business Revitalization Plans <Summary> The FSA published a report on the progress of business revitalization by Shinsei Bank Ltd. as of September 30, 2021, pursuant to the "Act on Emergency Measures for Early Strengthening of Financial Functions" and the "Deposit Insurance Act." (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20211224/20201224.html

 

Securities

December 24, 2021

Rescission of an order to impose an administrative penalty charge against an individual for committing insider trading regarding stocks of Morpho, Inc. by using information received as an employee of the entity <Summary> On November 13, 2021, the FSA’s order to impose an administrative penalty charge against an individual, which was imposed in 2017 for committing insider trading regarding stocks of Morpho, Inc. by using information received as an employee of the said entity was rescinded by the judgement of the court.  (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/shouken/20211222.html

December 24, 2021

Administrative action against i Global Asset Management Co., Ltd. <Summary> The FSA took administrative action* against i Global Asset Management Co., Ltd., a business operator that engages in investment management business, Type II financial instruments business, and investment advisory and agency business, ordering the revocation of the entity’s registration and the improvement of its business operations pursuant to the "Financial Instruments and Exchange Act." *  This administrative action is based on findings from the entity's statutory reports which were submitted to the FSA after the entity was ordered to improve its business operations as of April 2, 2021. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/shouken/20211224.html

 

Others

January 4, 2022	Request for financial measures to deal with the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu (HPAI) in Ehime Prefecture (The Shikoku Local Finance Bureau) <Summary> The Shikoku Local Finance Bureau issued the statement titled "Financial Measures in Response to the Report of the Subspecies of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)" to relevant financial institutions. The statement requests financial institutions in Ehime Prefecture to cooperate with prefectural authorities and appropriately deal with HPAI-affected parties (poultry farms, processors, and trade) considering their circumstances, such as by attentively responding to the needs of business management consultation and new loans or the changing of loan terms. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/ginkou/20220104.html
December 28, 2021	Updated list of issuers of gift certificates in repayment procedures based on the ’Payment Services Act’
December 27, 2021	FSA updated Information on COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)
December 24, 2021	Updated statistics of money lending business
December 24, 2021	Publication of the PoC test results of the fifth project for "FinTech PoC (Proof-of-Concept) Hub" <Summary> From the perspective of further acceleration of challenges toward financial innovation utilizing FinTech, on September 21, 2017, the FSA has launched "FinTech PoC (Proof-of-Concept) Hub" to eliminate the hesitation and concern that FinTech firms and financial institutions are inclined to have in conducting unprecedented tests. Since its launch, the Hub has selected eight PoC projects so far, in which the Hub has offered support by forming special working teams for the respective projects in cooperation with other relevant authorities as necessary. In the meantime, the fifth project (selected on November 8, 2018) has finalized its PoC test, whereby the FSA has accordingly published its PoC test results. The fifth project is related to the "Financial Instruments and Exchange Act," the "Payment Services Act," and the "Guidelines for Administrative Processes" regarding funds transfer service providers. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r3/sonota/20211224/20211224.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of an updated report on trends in high-speed trading activities <Summary> The FSA has published an updated report on trends in high-speed trading activities including the number of orders placed by high-speed traders and trading values thereof. The updates reflect the activities from July to September 2021.  (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r2/sonota/20210630/20210630.html
December 24, 2021	Publication of "Statistics of NISA and Junior NISA Accounts" as of September 30, 2021 <Summary> The FSA has published "Statistics of NISA and Junior NISA Accounts." As of September 30, 2021, there were approximately 17.1 million NISA accounts in total, and approximately 25.0 trillion yen (approximately 217.2 billion USD) was invested through the NISA accounts, among which, 1.3 trillion yen (approximately 11.3 billion USD) was invested through approximately 4.7 million accounts of the Tsumitate NISA (Dollar-Cost Averaging NISA) which has started since January 2018. (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/policy/nisa/20211224.htm
December 24, 2021	Status of implementation of the appointment and dismissal of the FSA officials with disabilities <Summary> The FSA published the status of implementation of the appointment and dismissal of the FSA officials with disabilities as of June 1, 2021, pursuant to the "Act on Employment Promotion etc. of Persons with Disabilities." (The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL.) https://www.fsa.go.jp/common/about/sonota/shougai_joukyou.html