Cabinet Approves Crypto-Asset and Startup Funding Bill

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Provisional Translation

Press Conference by KATAYAMA Satsuki, Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, April 10, 2026, ８:40 am to ８:54 am)

[Opening remarks:]

Minister) Today, the Cabinet approved a bill submitted by the Financial Services Agency to partially amend the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act. The bill is intended to expand the supply of growth capital in response to changes in Japan’s financial and capital markets and, at the same time, to ensure market fairness and transparency as well as investor protection by developing the legal framework for revising the rules applicable to crypto-assets, for the disclosure and assurance of sustainability-related financial information, for promoting funding for startups, and for reviewing regulations on unfair transactions involving securities, among other matters. We hope that the bill will be deliberated expeditiously during the current Diet session.

[Questions and answers:]

Q. There have been media reports that the Financial Services Agency may conduct an on-site inspection of the parent company of The Prudential Life Insurance Company, Ltd. later this month over the issue involving the fraudulent appropriation of funds. If that is true, what approach would you take regarding the inspection? Also, is there any possibility of administrative action, including against The Prudential Life Insurance Company, Ltd. itself?

A. We are aware of the media reports, but, in this case as well, as always, we refrain from commenting on the Financial Services Agency’s inspections of individual business operators. In any event, the Financial Services Agency must continue to confirm the root causes of the matter and the response taken by The Prudential Life Insurance Company, Ltd. It must also carefully verify the actual state of management oversight exercised by the parent company, Prudential Holdings of Japan, Inc., over its insurance subsidiary, and there has been no change in our policy of dealing with the matter rigorously, including by taking measures based on laws and regulations.

Q. I understand that yesterday France, the current G7 presidency, announced that it would hold a finance ministers’ meeting on the 15th. At a time when downside risks to the global economy are increasingly on the radar, what kind of discussions do you hope to see there? Also, related to that, I understand that the Financial Services Agency has begun assessing the situation regarding private credit funds. On that issue as well, how should the international community align its response?

A. First, the French finance minister, representing the current G7 presidency, visited Japan last week, and we spoke for about two and a half hours over a meal. Of course, market volatility stemming from the situation involving Iran is a major issue for every country. ... As part of the broader set of issues involving market volatility, private credit funds, which first became a major concern mainly in the United States, are also an issue on which I keep myself updated based on material compiled by the Financial Services Agency from its hearings on financial institutions’ exposure to private credit. However, there is not very much exposure in Japan. That is not to say that Japanese institutions have not invested in them at all, as these instruments do offer a certain level of yield in the current environment. But we do not recognize this as having become a major problem here. That said, we believe it may well become a topic of discussion as to whether major U.S. and European institutions face risks there and whether those risks are being properly monitored. At this point, however, we do not believe it has developed into the kind of crisis we have seen in the past.

Q. I would like to ask about private medical insurance. Our reporting has found that Japanese life insurers have seen a sharp rise in payments of lump-sum hospitalization benefits under private medical insurance for policyholders said to have been hospitalized in China. Our understanding is that the diagnosis appears to be something like gastroenteritis, which would ordinarily require only home care. As the Minister of State for Financial Services, how do you view this matter, and what response do you intend to take going forward?

A. This was indeed your company’s scoop, but in any case, ensuring fairness among policyholders and proper management of claim payments is extremely important. We have been informed that, depending on the nature of the risks and the details of the claims, insurers have strengthened their claims assessment, and that while these lump-sum payments used to be on the order of several hundred thousand yen, they are now being reduced to around ¥100,000. In other words, they are taking steps so that nothing strange - or rather, nothing that could call fairness into question - will occur. Accordingly, in order to ensure that their business operations are properly maintained, I hope that we will continue to verify matters such as payment management and the product scheme itself, as I just mentioned, and guide the matter in a better direction.

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