Press Conference by ASO Taro, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of State for Financial Services
(Excerpt)
(Friday, November ６, 2020, ８:37 am to ８:44 am)
[Opening remarks:]
Japan urgently needs to strengthen its functions as a global financial center. To that end, we are moving ahead with efforts to provide financial administration in English for foreign asset management firms moving into Japan, and the Financial Services Agency is working with local finance bureaus to launch a joint “Financial Market Entry Office” in January of next year.
This office will provide one-stop service in English for everything from pre-application consultations to supervision, and we are hoping to make things more convenient for businesses coming from overseas by speeding up the registration process while still ensuring proper screening of registration applicants.
Today will mark the start of a public comment period for the proposed revisions to Cabinet orders and such that will make it possible to apply for registration and carry out other procedures in English.
Nevertheless, we will start accepting requests for English-language consultations on registration from today without waiting for these revisions. For details, please contact the FSA staff.
[Questions and answers:]
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Q.
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You mentioned launching a support office for the global financial center and described efforts to offer procedures and supervision in English as a step forward on the road to a global financial center. Please tell us what you feel is the significance of advancing the global financial center concept.
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A.
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Unlike in the past, international finance now makes up a much greater share of the income balance than GDP or the balance of trade in goods, and this has enhanced Japan’s economic and financial power.
With that in mind, when we consider Japan’s place within the international financial community and the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong, we are looking to bring to Japan those portions of Asia’s financial markets now concentrated primarily in Hong Kong, which will further increase Japan’s financial capital, and this will be of great significance for the Japanese economy as a whole.
As the prime minister mentioned in his policy speech, the establishment of a global financial city is a critical issue.
