27 February 2001
Financial Services Agency

Japanese-German Financial Consultations

Japanese-German Financial Consultations co-chaired by the Federal Ministry of Finance of Germany and Ministry of Financial of Japan took place in Berlin on 20 February 2001. Mr. Yoshio Okubo, Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs, and other representatives attended the Consultations from the FSA.

The following is the Press Release announced after the closing of the Consultations.

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Press Release

Japanese-German Financial Consultations

on 20 February 2001

Mr Caio Koch-Weser, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, Vice Minister at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, met today for financial consultations at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. Representatives of the Japanese and German supervisory authorities were also present at the talks.

The consultations were held in order to exchange views on the current economic situation and macro-economic policy in both countries and on proposed new legislation, such as pension reform. Other issues included current developments in regulation and financial market supervision in both countries and in the international organizations.

Discussions took place with regard to the appropriate means of ensuring effective supervision of financial institutions and financial markets in an environment of increasingly complex links developing between various financial sectors. The Japanese side reported on its experience with setting up the Financial Services Agency, an integrated regulator covering all areas of financial services. The plans of the Federal Ministry of Finance to combine the German supervisory offices for banking, insurance and securities trading in a single supervisory authority were met with great interest. Both sides agreed that the supervisory framework and practice needed to be adaptive to changing landscapes in the financial markets.

The delegations also agreed to continue to cooperate closely in promoting joint interests at international level, such as strengthening the international financial architecture.