Chairman's Comments on "Measures for Ensuring the Stability of the Payment and Settlement Functions of Financial Institutions"

JBA would like to thank the Financial System Council for its efforts to draft the report in a short span of time. It cannot be stressed too much that settlement systems are the essential infrastructure of the economy and that their stability is indispensable. Thus, the recommendations of the Council have been carefully analyzed.The report proposed to introduce a "settlement deposit," a fully protected new type of deposit. The introduction of a new deposit, however, will create the burden of shifting deposits for depositors and a new cost for financial institutions related to preparing the computer system and operations. We are concerned about the ability to effectively prepare such in a limited period.If the introduction of the new deposit is finalized officially, both the government and financial institutions will need to do their utmost to avoid confusion among depositors and minimize the cost it inflicts upon society as a whole.Since the sound management of financial institutions is the most important factor for securing a stable settlement function, we will do our best to gain the confidence of depositors and the markets by achieving this stability.