Press Conference by Shizuka Kamei, Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, April 9, 2010, from 8:43 a.m. to 8:50 a.m.)

Q.

The other day, a new proposal for regulating securitized products was announced in the United States (USSEC), with the objective of preventing shady product development and resale, by making it mandatory for issuers to retain a portion of the securitized products and making the requirements for the disclosure of information more stringent. Do you think it will be necessary to consider such regulations in Japan as well? Or are there already plans to introduce such regulations? Please share your thoughts on this matter with us.

A.

As you may already know, the United States has previously been criticized internationally for failing to properly supervise or regulate (securitized) products from the vantage of investor protection, so the fact that such regulations are proposed is highly welcomed.

At the moment, in Japan, even if I may be foolish, the more than competent staff members of the Financial Services Agency have been giving guidance properly, and are conducting inspections as well. There are no specific plans to immediately tighten the regulation.

(End)