Press Conference by SUZUKI Shunichi, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Tuesday, February 13, 2024, 8:45 am to 8:50 am)

[Opening remarks:]

Minister)

Today, February 13, is designated as the NISA Day, and at the beginning of the press conference, I would like to say a few words about NISA.
This is the first year of the new NISA program, which started in January of this year, and is the milestone year which marks the tenth anniversary of the NISA Day. Over one out of five adults have used NISA during the past decade, and I assume that the program has been accepted by people as one of the means of stable asset building.
This year, various NISA-related events are taking place mainly on NISA Day. Through these events and other public relations activities, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) will work with related parties to encourage people to learn about NISA and think more deeply about stable asset building according to their life plan.

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

It was reported that the FSA urged four major non-life insurance companies to accelerate the sale of cross-shareholdings. Please let us know whether this report is true, and your opinion about non-life insurance companies’ cross-shareholdings?

A.

I understand that there was such a media report.
Regarding insurance premium adjustments in corporate insurance, in the business improvement order issued to the four major non-life insurance companies at the end of last year, the FSA pointed out that, as one of the root causes, there were cases in which elements other than the conditions of insurance contracts, such as the percentage of cross-shareholdings, affected the results of bidding and other dealings to some extent. At the same time, as one of the improvement actions, the FSA requested them to consider and implement measures to create an environment that would enable appropriate competition in the field of corporate insurance.
From this point of view, the FSA believes that it is important to accelerate the sale of cross-shareholdings, and we are currently talking with the four major non-life insurance companies so that the business improvement plan, which we have requested them to submit by the end of this month, includes improvements that are made from such a point of view.
The FSA will properly confirm details of the business improvement plan to be submitted by each company, its subsequent progress, etc., including the sale of cross-shareholdings, from the viewpoint to prevent any similar cases to occur in the future.