JBA's Request on Payment of National Public Service Personnel

The Operations Committee held on February 17 finalized the "Request to totally shift to the direct credit of payrolls for national public service personnel," which had been discussed by the Working Committee on Procedures for Governmental Payments and Collections, and submitted it to the Chairman of Managerial Committee for the Liaison Meeting of Ministry CIOs on the same day.Although direct credits are used widely among companies, much of the payrolls for national public service personnel is still paid in cash. This causes extra operational burdens for relevant departments of governmental organizations, and financial institutions that handle governmental payments and collections on behalf of the Bank of Japan. It also may result in errors or mishaps involving cash.The Labor Law dictates that payrolls should be paid in cash. However, private companies have almost entirely adopted, with consent of recipients, direct crediting for their payroll payments, to help eliminate the above problems.Meanwhile, according to the "2002 Priority Plans for e-Japan," the government is slated to release, by the end of March 2003, a basic policy concerning the preparation of integrated systems between governmental organizations and their operations, concerning the electronic processing of personnel and payroll operations.Taking this opportunity, JBA drafted this request with the aim of reducing both administrative costs and burdens of financial institutions.If all payrolls of national public service personnel are shifted to direct crediting, operational costs related to handling cash, or risks related to transporting large amount of cash, will be reduced for many governmental organizations as well as financial institutions.JBA will continue to cooperate with the government and the Bank of Japan to realize this request.