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(THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN)The Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe adopted bills Friday aimed at regulating virtual currency businesses and allowing banking groups to invest in the financial technology sector.
The Abe government plans to introduce the two bills to amend the settlement law and the banking law, respectively, during the ongoing Diet session, hoping to have them enacted before the Ise-Shima summit of the Group of Seven major economies that Japan will host in late May, officials said.
The amendment bill to the settlement law defines virtual currencies, such as bitcoins, as assets that can be traded by an unspecified number of people and electronically transferred. The bill calls on virtual currency exchange service providers to register their business with the Financial Services Agency so that the agency can monitor them.
The registration system will enable the financial regulator to conduct on-site inspections and impose administrative punishments whenever necessary, the government officials pointed out.
Meanwhile, the banking law revision bill is designed to allow banking groups to acquire information technology companies, particularly “fintech” firms, to improve their financial services. Central banks for agricultural, forestry and fisheries cooperatives across Japan are subject to the deregulation as well.
Under the envisaged legislation, bank holding companies will also be empowered to consolidate overlapping operations of group firms, such as system administration and fund management.
