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

(Excerpt)

(Tuesday, January 7, 2014, 11:43 am to 11:57 am)

[Questions and answers]

Q.

NISAs were launched yesterday, and they seem to have got off to a smooth start, with 10% of transactions at one brokerage being made via NISA accounts, for example. What are your thoughts?

A.

It is the Small-Amount Investment Tax-Free Scheme, called Nippon Individual Savings Accounts. In Japan today, individuals possess around 1,600 trillion yen worth of financial assets, of which I think about 860 to 870 trillion yen is in the form of cash or deposits. A characteristic of Japan is that the proportion of personal financial assets held as cash or deposits is overwhelmingly high, and I believe that not allowing them to just sit there as savings, but instead directing these deposits into investment, allowing money to move smoothly into capital investment and so on, is very important for helping the Japanese economy to grow. So this scheme has been launched, and I think around four million accounts have been opened. Various aspects will probably need to be improved. The launch has come amid criticism saying that financial institutions could be changed every year, but this has been changed. In the future, I think there will be calls for various improvements to be made, such as getting rid of the ten-year time limit, increasing the amount that can be put into the accounts, and so on, with the aim of increasing the amount of money flowing into investment. So going forward, if there aspects for improvement, or in a broader sense, things that should be made better, we will need to make improvements where they can be made, such as making this or that aspect easier to use and directing money into investment. The scheme has only just started, so we don’t know too much about what should be done yet. So try it out for yourself, and if you have an idea, please tell us what it is. You know, if you think you’d use the scheme more if this or that was done. Because the people with such ideas are not public officials. So try it for yourself, and put together some easy-to-understand information, because if that is available, we want to know about it. If you have an idea, please let us know.

Q.

Please tell us about the prospects for licensing Japan Post Insurance to provide educational insurance.

A.

I cannot answer questions on the licensing of specific companies. So my answer will be the same one that I give everyone else, that the Financial Services Agency will act properly in accordance with laws and regulations. I won’t say anything more than that.

(End)