Financial reform timetable

Some steps already implemented:

1) introduction of asset management accounts;

2) sale of investment trusts at bank teller windows;

3) lifting of ban on brokerages' handling of unlisted stock;

4) framework for financial holding companies;

From April 1:

5) easing of foreign exchange restrictions;

6) more autonomy for Bank of Japan;

7) liberalized brokerage commissions for stock trades worth more than 50 million yen;

8) introduction of prompt corrective action system to check banks' creditworthiness;

In the future:

9) liberalization of nonlife insurance premium rates (July 1998);

10) transfer from an authorization to a registration system for brokerages (December 1998);

11) direct sale of investment trusts by banks (December 1998);

12) cross entry between insurance firms and other financial institutions via subsidiaries (by March 2001).