Japaneseopen new window
January 12, 2021
(Updated on August 21, 2025)
Financial Services Agency
Local Finance Bureaus

The Financial Market Entry Office

In order to expand Japan’s role as an international financial center, the Japanese Government is committed to making its capital markets more attractive with strategic initiatives and to creating an environment that attracts foreign businesses and highly-skilled foreign professionals.

As a part of the initiatives, the Financial Services Agency (“FSA”) and Local Finance Bureaus (”LFBs”) established the ”Financial Market Entry Office” (the ”Office”) on January 12, 2021 to handle all the regulatory process from pre-application consultation, registration, to supervision after the registration for newly entering asset management firms as a single point of contact with all the communications available in English.

The communications will be available in English and online (video conferences). For details, please refer to “Functions of Financial Market Entry Office” section below.

The Office will also serve as a contact point for any inquiry on procedures under financial laws and regulations in connection with the establishment of a business base in Japan by all types of foreign financial business operators. The Office will take over the role of the Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk (business base establishment support in Japan). Please refer to “Attention” section at the bottom of this page.

Reference :
PDFSummary diagram of the above measures

Contact

Please contact us at the address below. 

Office hours
: Weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. (JST).
E-mail
: marketentry[at sign]fsa.go.jp  ( * Please change [at sign] to @)
Phone
: +81-3-6667-0551
Address
: 7th Floor, FinGATE TERRACE, 8-1 Nihonbashi-kabuto-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

* Complex inquiries are best submitted in writing via e-mail with any relevant information attached whenever possible and appropriate, so that the Office can ensure a timely response.

Functions of Financial Market Entry Office

The Office, as a single point of contact, assumes the following functions:

(1) Pre-application consultation

The Office accepts and responds to inquiries from all types of foreign business operators including foreign asset management firms. Communication will be available both in English and Japanese in the course of pre-application consultation on interpretation/applicability of laws and regulations or business models and practice feasibility pertaining to the registration as a financial instruments business operator.

The Office also accepts and responds to inquiries regarding the ”Guidebook for Registration of Investment Management Business and Other Financial Instruments Businesses,” which is mentioned below. Consultations regarding notification of Specially Permitted Business for Foreign Investors, etc. (Article 63-8 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (hereinafter the "FIEA")) and Specially Permitted Business during Transition Period (Article 3-3 of the Supplementary Provisions of the FIEA) are also accepted.

(2) Registration

Communication in registration procedures for newly entering asset management firms ("applicant(s)") will be available in English, provided that an applicant fulfills both of the following categories (i) and (ii). If the applicant does not fall under such categories, the proper contact for the registration process will be the local finance bureau or local finance office with jurisdiction over the location of the applicant’s head office.

(i)  Types of Businesses Eligible to Submit Documents in English:

In the case of any of the following types of business, submission of documents in English is permitted.

  • (a) Type-I Financial Instruments Business*1 (Article 28(1) of the FIEA)

  • (b) Investment Management Business (Article 28(4) of the FIEA)

  • (c) Investment Advisory and Agency Business (Article 28(3) of the FIEA)

  • (d) Type II Financial Instruments Business relevant to asset management business in either of the following cases

    • (1) where selling a beneficial certificate of an investment trust or a fund established by itself (Article28(2)(i) of the FIEA)

    • (2) where selling a partnership-type fund (collective investment scheme interests) managed by a group company of the applicant to professional investors (Article 28(2)(ii) of the FIEA)

    • (3) where conducting a so-called Deemed Type II Financial Instruments Business operated by an Asset Management Company of an Investment Corporation or an Operator of Investment Management Business for Qualified Investors (Article 196(2) of the Act on Investment Trusts and Investment Corporations and Article 29-5(2) of the FIEA)

  • (e) Investment Management-Related Service Entrusted Business (Article 2(44) of the FIEA)

  • *1 Type I Financial Instruments Business that is conducted for professional investors and in which the securities handled are only certain securities, such as beneficiary certificates of foreign investment trusts and foreign investment securities.

(ii)  Applicants Eligible to Submit Documents in English:

Applicants who fall under any of the following categories will be permitted to submit documents in English.

  • (a) An applicant who is engaged in the business described in (1) through (3) below in a foreign country respectively for the categories set forth in (1) through (3).

    • (1) An applicant wishing to register for the business described in (i)(a) above: Same kind of business as Type I Financial Instruments Business

    • (2) An applicant wishing to register for the business listed in (i)(b) through (d) above: Same kind of business as Investment Advisory and Agency Business or Investment Management Business

    • (3) An applicant wishing to register for the business described in (i)(e) above: Same kind of business as Investment Management-Related Service Entrusted Business

  • (b) Parent company, etc., subsidiaries, etc., or affiliated companies, etc. of an entity engaged in business prescribed in (ii)(a) above

  • (c) An applicant who was an officer or employee of an entity engaged in business described in (ii)(a) above

  • (d) An applicant any of whose officers or major employees is the person who is or was an officer or employee of an entity engaged in business described in (ii)(a)

(3) Post-registration supervision

Supervision for foreign asset management firms, etc. that have completed registration procedures in English will be conducted by the Office in English. Also, inspection for the firm will be conducted in English. In view of a possible increase in the number of registered firms, the FSA will enhance its operational capacity as well as the effectiveness of supervision and inspection accordingly.

(4) List of documents that can be prepared in English

A list of documents that can be prepared in English can be found from the following links. Statutory documents required to be filed with the FSA pursuant to the applicable rules for Investment Management Business, etc. under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act can be prepared in English.

Reference :

Please click here for the documents related to Specially Permitted Business for Foreign Investors, etc. / Specially Permitted Business during Transition Period.

Please click here for the documents related to Investment Management-Related Service Entrusted Business.

About the Guidebook

The FSA has published “Guidebook for Registration of Investment Management Business and Other Financial Instruments Businesses” (the “Guidebook”) for the purpose of providing information concerning the procedures for registration for Investment Management Business and other Financial Instruments Businesses. In an easily understandable way, using flowcharts and illustrations, the Guidebook explains the types of registration to be required for each of the major business schemes related to asset management business, while providing an overview of the procedure for registration screening and explanations on the requirements for registration. Under the "Policy Plan for Promoting Japan as a Leading Asset Management Center" (December 2023), from the viewpoint of promoting new entrants of asset management companies, requirements on personnel structure (including requirements for securing compliance officer), requirements on capital, and requirements on net asset value for investment management businesses were deregulated. In addition, it was made possible to fully entrust the management (instruction/execution) authority to another asset management company. These revisions were also reflected in this Guidebook. It is hopeful that those who consider operating asset management business in Japan will find this Guidebook useful.

Reference :
Guidebook for Registration of Investment Management Business and Other Financial Instruments Businesses

Moreover, please refer to the following page for the English guidebook on the necessary procedures for foreign asset managers and FinTech companies planning to establish a business base in Japan (compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government with the cooperation of the FSA).

Reference :
Asset Managers & FinTech Companies Registration Guidebookopen new window

Cooperation with local governments, etc.

The information provided to the Office may be shared with the relevant local governments and organizations in accordance with the contents of your inquiries. Please refer to the following for information.

Attention

  • The First Registration Case Using the Financial Market Entry Office
  • Please click here (available only in English Summary)  for the amendments to the Cabinet Office Order, etc. to allow applications for registration in English (effective as of May 1, 2025). (Please click here for the amendments effective as of October 31, 2022, and here for the amendments effective as of  January 12, 2021)
  • Please click here (available only in Japanese) for the amendments to the Cabinet Order and the Cabinet Office Order related to Specially Permitted Business for Foreign Investors, etc. / Specially Permitted Business during Transition Period.
  • The FSA established the “Financial Market Entry Consultation Desk” (the “Desk”) on April 1, 2017, and it had served as a contact point for any inquiry on procedures under financial laws and regulations in connection with the establishment of a business base in Japan by all types of foreign financial business operators. Requests for consultations received by the Desk have been inherited by the Office along with all the functions of the Desk, including the detailed records of the pre-application consultation.

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