Financial Services AgencyFSA Weekly Review No.559

October 26, 2023

What’s New on the FSA Website

Week of October 13, 2023 - October 19, 2023

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

Public Comments

October 18, 2023 Publication of the draft "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Ordinance on Accounting for Investment Trust Property" and others for public consultation
<Summary>
The FSA published the draft "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Ordinance on Accounting for Investment Trust Property" alongside the draft "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Ordinance on Accounting for Investment Corporations" and the draft supplementary provisions of the said Cabinet Office Orders (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "proposal") for public consultation. 
The proposal is intended to make necessary amendments to the said ordinances to require investment trusts and investment corporations to submit disclosure (notation) of the constant value and the reason for the difference between the constant value and the net asset value (NAV) per unit for accounting for investment trusts and investment corporations on their balance sheets, where such difference arises.
Public comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. [JST], November 17, 2023.

The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/shouken/20231018/20231018.htmlopen new window
October 16, 2023 Publication of the draft amendments to the "Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on the Advancement of Government Administration Processes That Use Information and Communications Technology Pertaining to the Finance-Related Laws and Regulations That Fall Under the Jurisdiction of the Cabinet Office" (provisional English title) and others for public consultation
<Summary>
The FSA proposed the draft amendments to the "Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on the Advancement of Government Administration Processes That Use Information and Communications Technology Pertaining to the Finance-Related Laws and Regulations   That Fall Under the Jurisdiction of the Cabinet Office" (provisional English title) and others [hereinafter referred to as the "proposal"] for public consultation.
In line with the government-wide efforts and measures to conform to digital principles for administration procedures, the proposal is mainly intended to provide reasonable and necessary amendments to the relevant and applicable Cabinet Office Orders, etc. that fall under the jurisdiction of the FSA in terms of the following: 
- Reviewing rules/provisions for designating recording media, such as floppy disks, and
- Developing rules/provisions on the use of cloud services, etc.
Public comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. [JST], November 15, 2023.

The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/sonota/20231016/20231016.htmlopen new window
October 13, 2023 Publication of the finalized amendments to the regulatory notice designating transactions and lending/borrowing to be excluded from the transactions subject to the regulations on "Financial Instruments Obligation Assumption Business" after public consultation
<Summary>
The FSA finalized the amendments to the regulatory notice designating transactions and lending/borrowing to be excluded from the transactions subject to the regulations on "Financial Instruments Obligation Assumption Business" after public consultation.
The finalized amendments designate New Taiwan dollar-denominated interest rate swap transactions to be cleared at TAIFEX (Taiwan Futures Exchange) as transactions to be excluded from the scope of transactions subject to financial instruments obligation assumption services prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (28) of the "Financial Instruments and Exchange Act." 
The finalized amendments took effect on October 13, 2023.

The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/shouken/20231013/20231013.htmlopen new window

Press Releases

Publication

October 19, 2023 Results of the Cybersecurity Self-Assessment for Regional Financial Institutions (FY2022)
October 13, 2023 PDFFSA publishes English translation of monthly magazine, Access FSA No.240

Councils

October 17, 2023 Publication of the agenda and handouts of the second meeting of the "Asset Management Task Force" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council
<Summary>
The FSA published the agenda and handouts of the second meeting of the "Asset Management Task Force" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council, which was held on October 18, 2023. The task force members discussed the encouragement of new entry of asset management companies, provision of growth capital, and other relevant topics.
 
The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/singi/singi_kinyu/sisan-unyo/siryou/20231018.htmlopen new window
October 13, 2023 “Addressing the Challenges of Financed Emissions” Announced

Banks

October 17, 2023 Publication of a "Reference Casebook of Financial Institutions' Practices Taken Based on the Guidelines for Business Revitalization, etc. of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises" (provisional English title)
<Summary>
The FSA has been encouraging financial institutions to take initiatives for their proactive use of the "Guidelines for Business Revitalization, etc. of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises."
In this context, the FSA has compiled  PDF"Reference Casebook of Financial Institutions' Practices Taken in FY 2022 Based on the Guidelines for Business Revitalization, etc., of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises"open new window (provisional English title) [available only in Japanese].

Note: The reference casebook is based on materials filed by financial institutions, where the evaluations for the initiatives therein reflect the views of the financial institutions that prepared the materials, and do not represent the views of the FSA.

The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/ginkou/20231017.htmlopen new window

Others

October 18, 2023 Updated list of issuers of gift certificates in repayment procedures based on the "Payment Services Act"
October 16, 2023 Nineteenth Meeting of the "Council for Cooperation on Financial Stability"
October 13, 2023 Stewardship Code : 329 institutional investors have signed up to the Principles for Responsible Institutional Investors as of September 30, 2023
October 13, 2023 Publication of the main issues raised by the FSA at opinion exchange meetings with relevant associations in the financial sector
<Summary>
The FSA has published the main issues raised by the FSA at opinion exchange meetings* held with relevant associations in the financial sector in September 2023. (Available only in Japanese).
 
Common topics across the groups were:
- Publication of "The JFSA Strategic Priorities July 2023-June 2024"
- Publication of the FSA's FY 2024 request for tax revisions
- Monitoring policy across the financial sector and other relevant sectors, etc., and
- Public relations regarding AML (Anti-Money Laundering) measures, etc.
 
Notable issues discussed by most but not all groups were:
- Publication of the list of financial institutions satisfying the certain fill-in requirements of the designated reporting format pertaining to the status of their initiatives and efforts that have been taken so far and are to be taken based on the "Principles for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct" (as of the end of June 2023)
- Requests to financial institutions for financial measures to deal with disasters caused by typhoons (No.6, No.7, and No.13, 2023), and
- Introduction of "New NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account, a tax exemption program for small investment)" [scheduled in January 2024], where the NISA system will be made permanent. Under the New NISA system, annual investment caps will be expanded and the tax-exempt holding period will be made indefinite. 
 
* To enhance the transparency of its administration and to share its awareness of issues in the financial sector in a timely manner, every month the FSA publishes the main issues raised by the FSA at opinion exchange meetings with the relevant associations** in the financial sector. Opinion exchange meetings are held with the respective associations on a regular basis.
 
** In September 2023, opinion exchange meetings were held respectively with the following eight groups: major banks, etc.; the Regional Banks Association of Japan and the Second Association of Regional Banks; Community Bank, Shinyo Kumiai (National Central Society of Credit Cooperatives); the Life Insurance Association of Japan; the General Insurance Association of Japan; the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA); The Investment Trusts Association, Japan; and the labor banks sector.

The original press release is available in Japanese at the following URL:
https://www.fsa.go.jp/common/ronten/index.htmlopen new window

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