Provisional Translation

Q.

The fourth Abe Cabinet is expected to be inaugurated this afternoon, and as Minister, how do you evaluate economic and fiscal administration until now, and what issues do you think remain to be tackled if the deflationary slump is to be completely overcome?

A.

In the area of Financial Services Agency, I have been saying that we, FSA, must adopt a perspective of cultivating rather than punishing financial sector to achieve smooth financial intermediation and also saying that banks should make more efforts to do so, and I think things are beginning to change. In order to promote long-term, regular and diversified investment, we decided to improve the NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account) tax benefit scheme although the Tax Bureau was against it. The other thing is Fintech. I kept telling banks to get into Fintech, saying that the era was coming. I said that most bank branches could disappear if customers are satisfied with an ATM and a smartphone.