The First Registration Case
Using the Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk

With the commitment to further develop Tokyo as an international financial center, the FSA launched the "Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk" on April 1, 2017, to give advice on Japan’s financial regulations to foreign financial business operators which plan to establish a business base in Japan*.
 
Among the consultation cases received at the Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk, registration procedures for Legal & General Investment Japan (hereinafter referred to as “Legal & General”) were successfully completed as of August 4, 2017,  as the first case. Legal & General, a Japanese corporation of a UK asset management company Legal & General Group, applied for registration of Investment Management Business, Type II Financial Instruments Business, and Investment Advisory and Agency Business under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
 
Taking into consideration Legal & General’s prospective entrustment of asset management from pension funds, and ensuing likelihood of establishing its business base in Japan, the FSA, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau (including its Tokyo Local Finance Office) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have set up a joint project team to promptly support the “fast entry” of the foreign financial business operator.
 
With the project team’s continuous provision of advice, and Legal & General’s endeavor for quality responses, Legal & General’s registration procedures were completed in approximately 3 months, half the time it takes in standard cases, from the initial contact for prior consultation.
 
The FSA’s Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk continues to support foreign financial business operators’ smooth entry that contributes to strengthening Japan’s financial market.