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

(Excerpt)

(Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 9:38 am to 10:01 am)

[Opening Statement]

I would like to inform you of the following executive changes at the bureau level and above at the Financial Services Agency.

First, Mr. Hosomizo, Commissioner, will be honorably retiring, and Mr. Mori, Director-General of the Supervisory Bureau, will be appointed to replace him. Mr. Mori will be succeeded by Mr. Endo, Director-General of the Inspection Bureau, who himself will be replaced by Mr. Mitsui, Vice Commissioner for Policy Coordination, and Mr. Mitsui in turn will be succeeded by Mr. Ono, Deputy Director-General of the Planning and Coordination Bureau.

Mr. Omori, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission will also be honorably retiring, and his successor will be Mr. Sasaki, currently Deputy Director-General of the Inspection Bureau.

Mr. Kono, Vice Minister for International Affairs, and Mr. Ikeda, Director-General of the Planning and Coordination Bureau, will remain in their present posts.

This concludes my statement on personnel changes at the Financial Services Agency.

[Question and Answer]

Q.

I would like to ask about the personnel changes at the Financial Services Agency. Mr. Hosomizo is leaving his post as Financial Services Agency Commissioner after serving one year, so please tell us the reason for this replacement after only one year. For my second question, I would like to know what kind of financial administration you expect under Mr. Nobuchika Mori, the new Commissioner, and what issues he might face.

A.

To give you just one example, Mr. Shoji Mori was replaced after a year and a half and, while a two-year term is normal and the earlier three-year term unusual, there have been other Commissioners who have served one-and-a-half-year terms. What is absolutely certain is that he was in no way asked to resign because of any particular problem. On the other hand, Mr. Kono will remain in his post despite being older than the Commissioner so that we can maintain close contact on international finance with the Bank of Japan and other parties. I think everyone will admit that Mr. Kono is quite influential in international circles, so I hope you understand that this was a matter of the right person for the right job.