Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

November 15 , 2002

There are three things that I would like to report relating to the status of the Program for Financial Revival.

As I have reported recently, on November 12, I requested the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA) to respond to the Program for Financial Revival. Along with the examination by JICPA, we have decided to establish the Liaison Council with JICPA (Working Team) in order to make necessary adjustments from the standpoint of inspection and supervisory authorities. The details will be explained later through the administration staff.

Secondly, we will issue an order to the heads of the Local Finance Bureaus nationwide today, to thoroughly inform borrowing companies of the purpose and the content of the Supplementary Volume to Inspection Manual: Financing for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises, in order to ensure that the inspections reflect the actual status of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Thirdly, two days ago, we met with Mr. Noboru Matsuda, the Governor of the Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan (DICJ), and Mr. Akio Kioi, the President of the Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC), and requested them to actively respond to the Program for Financial Revival.

We intend to continue doing whatever we can step by step to promptly implement the Program for Financial Revival.

Q.

What did you request to RCC and DICJ, in concrete terms?

A.

RCC is referred to in the Program for Financial Revival in 4 aspects. Mainly, RCC should endeavor to sell its assets, make efforts in view of developing the market of such assets, work on further enhancing the revival functions and so forth. We requested Mr. Matsuda and Mr. Kioi to carry out what we advocate in the Program for Financial Revival, that is, to reinforce the framework for corporate revival, together with corporate recovery funds.