Personnel Changes Involving Senior Officials Of The Japan Ministry Of Finance And The Japan Financial Services Agency: Press Conference By KATAYAMA Satsuki, Japan Minister Of Finance And Minister Of State For Financial Services

[Opening remarks:]

Minister)

We have just received approval at the Cabinet meeting, and I would like to announce personnel changes involving senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency. Materials have been distributed to you. ... 
I would like to report on the organizational restructuring and personnel changes involving senior officials of the Financial Services Agency. At today’s Cabinet meeting, a Cabinet Order partially amending the Order for Organization of the Financial Services Agency was adopted. Accordingly, effective August 7, we will carry out an organizational restructuring that includes establishing the Banking and Securities Business Supervision Bureau and the Asset Management and Insurance Business Supervision Bureau; abolishing the Supervision Bureau and the Strategy Development and Management Bureau; and newly establishing a Director-General for Operations position. Please ask the administrative staff for details.
Next, I would like to inform you of the personnel changes involving senior officials of the FSA. First, Mr. Ishida, the current Director-General of the Supervision Bureau, will be appointed Director-General of the Banking and Securities Business Supervision Bureau, and Mr. Horimoto, the current Director-General of the Strategy Development and Management Bureau, will be appointed Director-General of the Asset Management and Insurance Business Supervision Bureau. Mr. Yanase, the current Vice Commissioner, Systemic Stability and Risk, will be appointed Director-General for Operations. Mr. Okada, the current Vice Commissioner for Evidence-based Policymaking, will succeed him as Vice Commissioner for Systemic Stability and Risk. Mr. Saito, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, will retire. He will be succeeded by Mr. Shibata, the current Deputy Director-General of the Policy and Markets Bureau. Mr. Ito, the Commissioner; Mr. Miyoshi, the Vice Minister for International Affairs; Mr. Inoue, the Director-General of the Policy and Markets Bureau; and Mr. Ozaki, the Vice Commissioner for International Affairs, will remain in their current positions.

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

I would like to ask about the personnel changes. What were the respective aims of the Ministry of Finance and the FSA in making these personnel changes? In particular, the FSA is undergoing a major organizational restructuring, with the Supervision Bureau being divided into two bureaus. In addition, Mr. Horimoto has been selected as Director-General of the Asset Management and Insurance Business Supervision Bureau. Could you tell us what you expect of Mr. Horimoto and what you intend to address under the new structure? We would also appreciate any message that you intended to convey through these appointments.

A.

This time, a considerable number of officials will remain in their current positions at both the Ministry and the FSA. Compared with when I served there, the officials involved are from substantially more senior cohorts. I myself have the impression that greater weight has been placed on experience and that the overall lineup has gained greater depth. I am also one of the persons with authority to make personnel decisions. All of these personnel decisions are based on assigning the right person to the right position. Therefore, if I were to describe their aim, it would be to assign the right person to the right position. The FSA is undertaking this organizational restructuring because there is a rationale for doing so. In any event, even when we look at matters such as frontier AI, what constitutes fact changes in the space of one or two weeks. To respond to such changes, we cannot retain organizations and structures from an era when digital technologies such as generative AI did not exist. First, digital technologies such as generative AI are advancing at such a pace. Financial services also need to be transformed. In addition, there are many meetings at the Prime Minister's Office, and responding to cyberattacks is also extremely important in the financial industry. Organizations and structures must therefore be capable of responding to such threats. Furthermore, initiatives to promote Japan as a leading asset management center continue to be extremely important for the development of Japan’s economy, particularly under the current circumstances. In other words, we must further develop the initiatives to promote Japan as a leading asset management center along the lines of a financial strategy to promote growth investment. This is also important. At the same time, as the activities of financial institutions become increasingly complex and diverse, there are also scandals and misconduct, about which I frequently receive questions from you at these press conferences. These issues must also be addressed. Taking all of these matters into consideration, we reorganized the supervisory functions and put in place an environment that will enable supervisory operations to be conducted in a more meticulous, efficient, and effective manner. There are also matters concerning divisions and offices at a more detailed level. Please ask the administrative staff about those matters.