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January 12, 2021
(October 31, 2022 Updated)
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@fsa.go.jp
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 (a) and (b). In other cases, the applicant will be referred to the proper contact point. 
 

(a) Applicant who falls under either of the following categories

①  Applicant who is engaged in the business described in items (i) and (ii) below in a foreign country respectively for the categories set forth in item (i) and (ii).

(i) Applicant wishing to register for Type 1 Financial Instruments Business: Same kind of business as Type-I Financial Instruments Business

(ii) Applicant wishing to register for the business listed in (b)②-④: Same kind of business as Investment Advisory and Agency Business or Investment Management Business

②  Parent company, etc., subsidiaries, etc., or affiliated companies, etc. of an entity engaged in business prescribed in ①

③  Applicant who has worked in an entity engaged in business prescribed in ① as a senior officer or employee (i.e. where he/she is named as a senior officer or an important employee in the application documents)
 

(b) Application for either of the following types of business under the FIEA

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

②  Investment Management Business (Article 28(4) of the FIEA)

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

④  Type-II Financial Instruments Business relevant to asset management business in either of the following cases

(i)   where selling a beneficial certificate of an investment trust or a fund established by itself (Article 28(2)(i) of the FIEA)

(ii)  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)

(iii) where conducting a so-called Deemed Type-II Financial Instruments Business operated by 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)

*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.

 
(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：List of documents that can be prepared in English (for registration)
                 List of documents that can be prepared in English (for post-registration)
Please click here for the documents related to Specially Permitted Business for Foreign Investors, etc. / Specially Permitted Business during Transition Period.

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. 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 Guidebook

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.

・Financial One-Stop Support Service新しいウィンドウで開きます (Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

・Global Finance Centre新しいウィンドウで開きます (Fukuoka City Government)

・Osaka Global Finance One-Stop Support Center新しいウィンドウで開きます (Osaka Prefectural Government and Osaka City Government)

・Invest Japan Business Support Center (IBSC)新しいウィンドウで開きます (Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO))

Attention

〇The First Registration Case Using the Financial Market Entry Office

〇Please click here for the amendments to the Cabinet Office Order, etc. to allow applications for registration in English (effective as of October 31, 2022). (Please click here for the amendments effective as of January 12, 2021)

〇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.

〇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.

〇For more information on the past activities of the Desk, please refer here.

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