[Opening remarks]

I would like to make a statement, in my capacity as Minister for Financial Services, regarding new measures to facilitate financing.

As the end of the fiscal year approaches, not only small and medium-size enterprises but also larger companies face increasingly severe business conditions and fund-raising conditions. In light of this situation, the FSA (Financial Services Agency) has decided to take new measures, such as holding special hearings and conducting intensive inspections in order to facilitate financing.

I will now elaborate on the new measures.

*Special hearings and intensive inspections for the purpose of facilitating financing

*Revision of the risk weighting related to emergency guarantee (from 10% to zero)

*Promotion of flexible treatment of covenants

*Request for the use of market-based, indirect finance (e.g. syndicated loans)

*Promotion of the use of the Act on Special Measures for Strengthening Financial Functions

I hope that these measures will help to further facilitate corporate financing.

A: As I said in my press conference in the morning, there are probably two different concepts of stock price support, one of which is supporting stock prices themselves and the other is supporting business sectors that may be affected by stock price declines. Measures to support stock prices themselves involve substantial technical difficulty. Such measures require a huge amount of funds and efforts, and there is also a fundamental problem: how can they be justified?

However, measures to support business sectors that may be affected by stock price declines are under deliberation at the FSA and the Ministry of Finance as well as at the Cabinet Office and the ruling parties.

I hear that the ruling parties are also exploring measures to support stock prices themselves.

A: Basically, we are requesting private financial institutions to facilitate financing so that the public and private sectors can work together to deal with the financial and economic crisis, but the FSA has no intention to use its authority to instruct the financial industry to facilitate financing.

There is the problem of financing at the end of the fiscal year in March, and some people warn that even if we overcome that problem, the months of April through June will be a very difficult period, so we will take appropriate actions to deal with the situation.

[Extract from the press conference on March 10, 2009]

[Opening remarks]

First, I would like to make a statement in my capacity as Minister for Financial Services in relation to the decision to make capital injection into three regional banks. As stated in the written statement distributed to you, we decided to make capital injection into Hokuyo Bank, Fukuho Bank and Minami Nippon Bank based on the revised Act on Special Measures for Strengthening Financial Functions.

A: As for the amount of capital injection, Hokuyo Bank will receive the largest amount, 100 billion yen, while Fukuho Bank and Minami Nippon Bank will receive 6 billion yen and 15 billion yen, respectively. As a result, the capital adequacy ratio will come to 9.0% for Hokuyo Bank, 9.1% for Fukuho Bank and 8.4% for Minami Nippon Bank. The overall quota for capital injection is 12 trillion yen, and we will welcome an application from banks that wish to enhance their capital bases. I hope that more banks will modify their articles of incorporation in preparation for that.

[Extract from the press conference on March 13, 2009]

A: This is also an effective means to enhance the capital of financial institutions, so it broadens the range of options for the management of banks in making business judgment, which also includes capital injection based on the Act on Special Measures for Strengthening Financial Functions. I welcome this very much.

[Extract from the press conference on March 19, 2009]

[Opening remarks]

As Minister for Financial Services, I will report on the extension of the temporary measures regarding the short-selling of stocks and purchase of own shares by listed companies, which were introduced to remain in effect until the end of the current fiscal year. As for the restriction on the short-selling of stocks, in light of the stock market condition, we have introduced additional measures, such as prohibiting so-called naked short-selling, which refers to the short-selling of stocks without first borrowing the stocks, while regarding purchases of own shares, we have taken measures such as raising the ceiling on daily purchase volume. These provisional measures were to remain in effect until March 31 this year. We believe that from the viewpoint of preventing unfair trading amid the market instability, it is appropriate to continue these measures for a while. Therefore, we have decided to extend these measures until the end of July and we plan to promulgate relevant Cabinet Office ordinances and notices within the current fiscal year.

A: Non-performing loans and assets will have to be disposed of sooner or later. The process of disposing of them and removing them from the balance sheets is necessary. I believe that the fact that the United States has started to work on this process represents significant progress. So, I expect that the announcement of this plan will have a very positive impact on the financial and industrial sectors as well as on the people and the entire world.

[Extract from the press conference on March 24, 2009]

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