Press Conference by Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Tuesday, January 8, 2013, from 11:23 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.)

[Questions and Answers]

Q.

Could you tell me about the prospects for the new services planned by Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance? Also, could you offer your opinion on the prospects for Japan Post Group’s request for the exemption of the consumption tax on inter-company fees?

A.

Are you asking about that issue related to Japan Post Insurance? As I replied earlier, conditional approval based on the Postal Service Privatization Act was granted for revision of Japan Post Insurance’s education insurance service on November 30, 2012. Meanwhile, I understand that approval based on the Insurance Business Act has not yet been granted. We will need to conduct a further study on the conditions attached to the approval, so at this stage, I cannot talk about progress we have made. The situation is the same with Japan Post Bank’s application to start providing housing and corporate loans. Regarding those new services, I am aware that the postal privatization committee formulated its opinions last December. However, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has not made progress in its examination. Therefore, if you ask me about my judgment over whether or not to grant approval, I should say we will need to conduct our examination and we are not yet looking into details.

Q.

Yesterday, U.S. investment fund Cerberous, which is the largest shareholder of Aozora Bank, announced it will sell most of its holdings of shares in the bank. Cerberous is going to relinquish the management control of Aozora Bank nine years after becoming the largest shareholder of the bank following the failure of its predecessor, Nippon Credit Bank, in 2000. How do you feel about the prospect that Aozora Bank will move out of the control of a U.S. investment fund, and as a shareholder, what does the government expect of Aozora bank in the future?

A.

That is a matter concerning an individual bank and it would not be appropriate for me as the minister for financial services to express an opinion on the sale of its shares, so I would like to refrain from commenting on that.

(End)