Sunday, October 07, 2007

Fears about Japan investor rules


Financial services providers in Japan fear they could face a temporary slowdown in business following the implementation on Sunday of legislation designed to enhance investor protection.

The Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, which runs to 6,500 pages, sets out rules for everything from marketing financial products and investor classification to corporate reporting and registration by funds.

The adoption of the new law, which replaces the Securities and Exchange Law and several others, is the biggest change to Japan’s financial regulatory regime in two decades.

Some executives welcomed the new rules. Stuart Milne, chief executive of HSBC in Tokyo, said the FIEL would bring Japanese consumer protection up to global standards. “It does impose stricter standards and that is going to take time for the industry to get used to, but longer term that is in the industry’s interests,” he said.

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