Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

April 2 , 2004

The Action Program concerning enhancement of Relationship Banking Functions released in March 2003 proposes the development of comprehensive guideline for supervision of small- and medium-sized and regional financial institutions, in order to establish a comprehensive supervision system based on assessments from various aspects. Today, the draft of the guideline was compiled, and we would like to request for public comments on it .

My comments at the ministerial meeting were as follows.

Government ministries and agencies are having much trouble on the issue of how to make administrative guidance transparent. At the recent ordinary Diet session, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) was questioned about the state of our administrative guidance. Taking those opportunities, the FSA has been making efforts to clarify the points to keep in mind when giving administrative guidance.

In light of this, we have recently developed internal regulations concerning the points, adopting the opinions of outside experts. I think this kind of action is the first one within the central government. We will incorporate them in the guideline which I just mentioned, and seek public comments today.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary said: ''The transparency of administration is a crucial issue, and people are expecting it. Government ministries and agencies should also make efforts to ensure transparency, using examples made by the FSA.''

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