Press Conference by Shozaburo Jimi, Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, March 4, 2011, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:34 a.m.)

[Opening Remarks by Minister Jimi]

Today, there was a discussion regarding the Council for Regulatory Reform. As you know, regulatory reform can be broadly categorized into two forms: social deregulation and economic deregulation. As for economic deregulation, the taxi industry was deregulated. This resulted in the number of taxis rising sharply over a 10-year period while taxi drivers' income fell by a third and working hours increased by 20%. Very unfortunately, the accident rate for taxis has doubled. As this was caused by excessive deregulation, the relevant law was revised during the government of the Liberal Democratic Party. In addition, as a result of deregulation due to the revisions of the Act on Worker Dispatching Undertaking and other labor-related laws that were implemented under the government of former Prime Minister Koizumi, the number of non-regular workers has increased to around 17.6 million, meaning that one in three workers is a non-regular worker. In light of this, Minister (for Government Revitalization) Renho will convene a meeting of the Council for Regulatory Reform today. Nowadays, it is in no way permissible for people to protect their own vested interests, for organizations to protect their interests, or for administrative agencies to protect their vested interests on the pretext of safety. However, as that is in their nature, at an informal meeting of cabinet ministers, I expressed hope that regulatory reforms satisfactory for the people will be implemented with due consideration given to the distinction between economic and social regulation.

[Questions & Answers]

Q.

Takefuji stopped accepting claims for reimbursement of overpayment the other day. Could you tell me what effects, if any that you know of, this problem has had until now on the management of other money lenders or users?

A.

Takefuji is in the process of corporate rehabilitation. I know that with the involvement of a court, the company accepted debt claims from creditors, including people to whom reimbursement of overpayment is due, until the end of February. Although I am aware of the media report that you mentioned, the FSA should refrain from making comments as the company is still counting the number of debt claims accepted.

However, as for the trend in the amount of claims for reimbursement of overpayment by the three major consumer loan companies other than Takefuji, I am aware that the amount remains at a high level, totaling around 301 billion yen as of the end of the third quarter of 2010. While I cannot say anything definite about the future trend of claims for reimbursement of overpayment, we will keep a careful watch from the perspective of keeping track of the business environment for money lenders.

(End)