The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan on Thursday called on Tokyo to abide by "fair, free and global" principles when establishing protection funds for investors and insurance policyholders as part of Japan's ongoing "Big Bang" financial reforms.
At the center of the debate is the government's plans to set up a Securities Investor Protection Fund and the Insurance Payment Guarantee System to compensate investors and policyholders after financial failures.
The ACCJ said in a statement that while it supports efforts to create safety nets, it is concerned whether they will alleviate concerns in the securities and insurance industries. "International securities and insurance companies have provided extensive information to the government regarding the fair and proper establishment of (the funds). This input ... has been largely ignored" by Japan, the ACCJ said.
The chamber cited concerns such as an imbalance in burden sharing, saying these funds should benefit only individuals -- not corporate clients.
The ACCJ said Japanese authorities are having industry associations set up these funds, and that these bodies in turn are trying to shift an excessive burden of protecting customers onto certain companies.