Last year, the Japanese economy, which had undergone its worst depression since World War II, started on a gradual recovery trend. This was partially due to the banking industry’s concerted effort to facilitate financing, as well as the employment of policy measures by the government and the Bank of Japan towards overcoming the crisis.
However, private demand is still weak and the economic outlook is as of yet unpredictable. Therefore, this year, above all, we need to firmly establish the current momentum of the economy, which has entered into a recovery. The banking industry will also pour further effort into smoothly supplying funds.
At the same time, to strengthen the growth potential of the Japanese economy in the medium to long term, we need to further strengthen the functions of Japan’s financial and capital markets. From this perspective, JBA would like to work on the following important tasks this year.
The first task is to pour effort into “further facilitating supplies of funds” to maximize our contribution to the steady recovery of the economy. JBA will follow up on the activities of each member bank and will also establish the Corporate Information Posting Site (tentative name) to assist in the creation of new business opportunities for companies. Furthermore, we will proceed with preparations for the Development of a User Friendly Environment for Individual Customers of Banks, including fine-tuned repayment consultations to users of housing loans, etc. We would like to commence their operations at an early stage during fiscal 2009.
For the second task, from the perspective of helping to strengthen growth potential in the medium to long term, JBA will also develop systems and infrastructure to strengthen the functions of Japan’s financial and capital markets.
First of all, as part of the global effort to build a new framework for financial and capital markets, we will proactively take part in international debates on reform of financial regulations and a review of international accounting standards, and will state the opinions of Japanese banks.
Furthermore, the postal reform issue is expected to make a great turnaround this year. JBA would like to actively state its opinions from the perspective of ensuring conditions for fair competition between Japan Post Bank and private financial institutions, as well as from the perspective of constructing healthy financial and capital markets which contribute to the improvement of convenience for users.
In the area of improving the safety of financial transactions and thoroughly protecting customers engaging in such transactions, JBA will continue to work on the proactive prevention of financial crimes. We will also proceed with the necessary procedures to become a designated dispute resolution institution of financial ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), and will state our opinion from a business practice perspective on issues such as the review of regulations for over-the-counter derivative transactions, on which debate has recently begun.
In addition, to develop an efficient market infrastructure, JBA will make solid progress on various preparations for the commencement of operations of the Electric Monetary Claims Recording Institution (scheduled for May 2012) and the establishment (April 2010) and commencement of operations (October 2010) of a payment clearing organization.
The role of the banking industry in ensuring the economic recovery of Japan and realizing the nation’s growth in the medium to long term is great. While constantly keeping in mind that growth of the financial sector goes hand in hand with expansion of the real economy, JBA would like to improve both user protection and user convenience to a high degree, as well as to contribute to the growth of the nation’s economy.
I hope that this year will prove to be highly rewarding for everyone.