What’s New on the FSA Website

Week of March 22, 2021 - March 26, 2021

This page contains the latest in events, developments, and updates to the FSA website.

Public Comments

(The following public comments are available in Japanese)

March 26, 2021	Publication of the draft amendments to the "Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business, etc." <Summary> The FSA published the draft amendments to the "Cabinet Office Order on Financial Instruments Business, etc." The proposal mainly intends to relax firewall regulations on sharing foreign corporate clients' non-public information, etc. within a financial group, in response to the recommendation made in the first report published by the "Working Group on Capital Market Regulations" (provisional English title) of the Financial System Council in December 2020.
March 26, 2021	Publication of the finalized "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Banking Act, etc." <Summary> The FSA published the finalized "Cabinet Office Order to Amend the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Banking Act, etc." The amendments mainly pertain to technical amendments to appended forms of the "Ordinance for Enforcement of the Banking Act" and other applicable rules and regulations in order to reflect the accounting standards and those implementation guidances in regard to fair value measurement, revenue recognition, and disclosure of accounting estimates, which were respectively updated/revised by the ASBJ (Accounting Standards Board of Japan) in 2019 or 2020, as well as the updated "Regulation on Corporate Accounting."* The amendments were enforced on March 31, 2021. * The "Regulation on Corporate Accounting" is within the purview of the Ministry of Justice. The updated regulation was promulgated on November 27, 2020, pursuant to an order of the Ministry of Justice (Order of the Ministry of Justice No.52 of 2020).
March 24, 2021	Publication of the draft amendments to the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision of Small- and Medium-Sized and Regional Financial Institutions" <Summary> The FSA has published the draft amendments to the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision of Small- and Medium-Sized and Regional Financial Institutions." The proposal intends to expressly set forth the perspective of adapting to the so-called "new normal" circumstances and improving business/operational productivity, taking into account the prolonged impact of COVID-19 and others. In particular: -　in terms of IT governance, under the "new normal" circumstances, it will become increasingly essential for regional financial institutions to develop their information and communication infrastructure/platform using e-mails, etc. as a means of communication within financial institutions and with customers, and -　sharing expertise and know-how with other financial institutions across organizations and regions can be a way to improve the competence of their sales representatives in ensuring effective financial intermediation.

Press Releases

(The following press releases are available in English)
International

March 26, 2021	EU-Asia Pacific Forum on Financial Regulation

Publication

March 22, 2021	FSA publishes English translation of monthly magazine, Access FSA No.210

Banks

March 22, 2021	FSA updated Information on COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

Others

March 24, 2021	“The Council of Experts Concerning the Follow-up of Japan’s Stewardship Code and Japan’s Corporate Governance Code” the Twenty- Sixth Council
March 23, 2021	International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators published the Report on 2020 Survey of Inspection Findings
March 23, 2021	Closing Remarks by ASO Taro, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services at FIN/SUM 2021, Tokyo
March 23, 2021	Opening Remarks by AKAZAWA Ryosei, State Minister for Financial Services at FIN/SUM 2021, Tokyo
March 23, 2021	Updated list of issuers of gift certificates in repayment procedures based on the ’Payment Services Act’
March 22, 2021	Keynote Speech by MORITA Tokio, Vice Minister for International Affairs at the 7th EU-ASIA Financial Services Dialogue

(The following press releases are available in Japanese)

Councils

March 25, 2021

Publication of the agenda and handouts of the fifth meeting of the "Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance" <Summary> The FSA published the agenda and handouts of the fifth meeting of the "Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance," which was held online on March 25, 2021. The Expert Panel is composed of business, financial, and academic experts with observers of officials from pertinent ministries and agencies. The FSA (Strategy Development Division, Strategy Development and Management Bureau) serves as the secretariat.

 

Banks

March 26, 2021

Request statement to the relevant financial institutions in regard to the points to be taken into account in responding to requests from retail customers who are or will be taking childcare/maternity/nursing care leave, etc. <Summary> The FSA issued a request to the relevant financial institutions in regard to the points to be taken into account in responding to requests from retail customers who are or will be taking childcare/maternity/nursing care leave, etc. The said statement requests financial institutions to appropriately respond to such retail customers considering their circumstances, such as by attentively responding to the needs of new loans or change of loan terms, making the repayment flexibly affordable.

March 25, 2021

Approval granted to Kansai Mirai Bank, Ltd. for its engagement in trust business <Summary> The FSA granted approval to Kansai Mirai Bank, Ltd. for its engagement in trust business pursuant to the "Act on Engagement in Trust Business by a Financial Institution."

Others

March 26, 2021	Publication of the "FAQ in Regard to the Guidelines for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)" <Summary>　 The FSA has published the "FAQ in Regard to the Guidelines* for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)." The newly formulated FAQ is aimed at improving stakeholders' understanding of the Guidelines. (The FAQ is available only in Japanese.) *The Guidelines were finalized through public consultation and enforced on February 19, 2021. (The Guidelines are currently available only in Japanese).
March 22, 2021	Initiatives for strengthening the cooperation between the FSA and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) <Summary> The FSA and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) have confirmed that they will take initiatives for strengthening the cooperation between the two, with a view of implementing higher-quality monitoring and alleviating the monitoring/examination-related burden on financial institutions. The FSA has publicized on its website the summary report on the initiatives that have been taken so far and are to be taken, based on "Collaborative Task Force to Further Strengthen the Linkage Between the FSA's Inspections Function and the BOJ's On-Site Examination Function" (established in November, 2020).
March 22, 2021	Publication of the updated FY2020 edition of the reference casebook* of good practices on the disclosure of narrative information based on the "Principles for the Disclosure of Narrative Information" in tandem with the updated "Key Exemplary Points of Good Corporate Disclosure on Cross-Shareholdings Expected from Investors" (provisional English title) <Summary> The FSA has published the updated FY 2020 edition of the reference casebook* of good practices on the disclosure of narrative information based on the "Principles Regarding the Disclosure of Narrative Information" in tandem with the updated "Key Exemplary Points of Good Corporate Disclosure on Cross-Shareholdings Expected from Investors"** (provisional English title). The reference casebook has been updated by adding the following new section items with the aim of encouraging corporate initiatives toward the enhancement of corporate disclosure beyond mere compliance with regulatory formalities: -　Status of audit -　Remuneration policy for directors, officers, members, etc.  The FY 2020 edition of the reference casebook has been updated by the "Study Group for Collecting Good Practices on Corporate Disclosure of Narrative Information Based on the Principles Regarding the Disclosure of Narrative Information,"*** and it shares the updated collection of favorable practices on the disclosure of narrative information.   * The reference casebook was last updated by the Study Group in February 2021, following the update in November 2020. (Updates to the casebook are made as deemed necessary). ** This paper was published in November 2020.  *** The Study Group brings investors, analysts and representatives from listed companies together to update the reference casebook.