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

(Excerpt)

(Friday, November 15, 2013, 10:59 am to 11:35am)

[Questions and answers]

Q.

On the 13th, the Committee on Financial Affairs of the House of Representatives held an intensive debate on the issue of dealings with anti-social forces, during which some of the committee members said that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) should play more of a leading role in resolving the issue. In light of that, could you tell us, and in specific terms if possible, what kind of action the FSA, and also bodies such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the National Police Agency (NPA), will be taking going forward?

A.

If you’re talking about Mizuho Bank, it is currently undergoing an on-site inspection, so I think that the FSA will carefully examine documents such as the business improvement plan submitted by the bank, and take action based on the results of this examination. But if you’re talking in general terms, about dealings by other financial institutions with anti-social forces, gangster groups, and so on, financial institutions will need to employ anti-social forces databases and make improvements, efforts, and so on to, for example, prevent dealings with anti-social forces occurring in the first place. Organizations such as the NPA and the Japanese Bankers Association (JBA) possess various types of data, and I hear that financial institutions are exploring the possibility of, for example, properly examining that data as part of such efforts. For the FSA, that would be a good thing, so I would like to support such initiatives. On the other hand, though, I don’t think that affiliated loans are in themselves a problem. I think that appropriate action will need to be taken in the future, for example, improving the ability of credit sales companies to screen out anti-social forces, having financial institutions themselves investigate whether potential customers are connected with anti-social forces, and so on. As you know, the credit sales business is regulated not by the FSA, but by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and I understand that financial institutions have launched, for example, a working group to study the possibility of the credit sales sector and other sectors sharing anti-social forces  databases. From the point of view of the FSA, this is a good thing, so we intend to actively support it. Whatever happens, we are very interested in this issue, and bodies such as the NPA are doing various things, which is a good thing, and we intend to continue to conduct inspections and supervision of such activities.

(End)