Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

1 October, 2002

Q.

The disposal of non-performing loans (NPLs) requires considerable political leadership. As a minister appointed from the private sector, a great deal of political power will be required on your part. How do you intend to demonstrate such political leadership?

Also, this might be an extremely high-risk, high-return gamble for the Prime Minister. I think the Prime Minister has his recognition on this matter, but could you tell us your own view?

A.

By nature, structural reform itself is high-risk, high-return. Although there might be ways to engage in politics without taking any risks, the Prime Minister's stance is to do everything that has to be done in a proper manner, even if there are risks involved, so as to achieve the high returns after doing so, that is, the recovery of the economy towards dramatic progress. In my opinion, the financial problems are symbolic.

In relation to political power, I would like to do my job firmly with the help of the Senior Vice Minister, who will be appointed newly. More than anything else, the fact that the Prime Minister is determined to tackle this problem squarely constitutes the biggest political force.

On the other hand, I believe it is extremely important to change the political environment by holding open discussions on policies properly and clearly indicating the roadmap for that purpose, so firstly, I intend to put all my efforts in this direction for the time being.

Specifically, I would like to establish a special project team to crystallize measures to quickly meet the Prime Minister's requests. This will be participated by, of course, the Commissioner and the Director-Generals of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), plus, four or five experts from the private sector, although the number of them has not yet been decided. It is expected that the project team, which will be formed by calling upon a great amount of expertise from the public, will show a comprehensive scenario based on principles. I don't intend to make fragmentary one, in any way. The idea is to complete the task by the end of October, while the Council on Fiscal and Economic Policy crystallizes the emergency strategies. Additionally, I intend to develop a structure for clearly specifying the policies, in the form of an interim report in two weeks or so if possible, by using time as effectively as possible, cherishing speed and absorbing expertise from the private sector.