Mar.12.2009

Japanese Bankers Association

Chairman Releases Comments on Opinions of the Postal Services Privatization Committee

Today, the “Opinions of the Postal Services Privatization Committee Regarding the Comprehensive Review of the Progress of the Privatization of Japan Post” was released.

JBA has consistently advocated that the primary purpose of the privatization of postal services is to enhance convenience for people and to direct the flow of capital to the private sector through the facilitation of fair competition in the market by rectifying the structure of advantages inherent to governmental businesses and the bloated business scale resulting from these privileges. Therefore, we have focused on promoting activities from the “viewpoint of the users’ perspective,” and have prioritized measures to enhance user conveniences. This helped us to realize the linking of the Japan Post Bank Co. to the Zengin System in January 2009.

Regarding deregulating the limit on deposits, the Opinions said that “there is a need for discussions to be held that emphasize how to resolve the inconveniences experienced by many users that are caused by temporarily exceeding the limit and on how to improve the level of convenience by seeking to fulfill various user needs.” However, we are concerned that if the deposit limit is deregulated without ensuring conditions for fair competition with private financial institutions while the Government maintains a monetary stake in the company, the result would be the reoccurrence of Japan Post Bank becoming bloated. This would not only go against the aim of smoothly integrating the Japan Post Bank with private financial markets, but it would also raise concerns over enlarging the various risks that it currently has.

Privatizing the Japan Post Bank is a large national undertaking that requires success. It involves gradually reducing the massive scale of the bank over a maximum of ten years while also smoothly integrating into private financial markets. Furthermore, with the worsening of the global financial crisis, which has been coined a “once in a 100-year crisis,” we believe that privatization must be conducted while maintaining an eye on the sound development of the community and effects on the market.

We strongly urge the government and the Postal Services Privatization Committee to fully understand the purpose of our opinion and to hold appropriate and prudent deliberations.