The government on Thursday decided unofficially to appoint Shokichi Takagi, director general of the Financial Services Agency's Supervisory Bureau, as the agency's next commissioner, officials said.

Takagi, 54, will replace Shoji Mori, 58, on July 12, the officials said.

He will be the third chief of the agency, created two years ago in a reform of the Finance Ministry to spin off the ministry's function as a watchdog of the banking sector.

Both Takagi and Mori are from the ministry. The first FSA commissioner, Masaharu Hino, was a former public prosecutor.

As chief of the FSA Supervisory Bureau, Takagi has been in charge of the disposal of nonperforming loans at banks and giving instructions to regional financial institutions on ways to improve finances ahead of the abolition of the full guarantee of deposits at collapsed banks, which took effect April 1, the officials said.

He also worked to stem falling stock prices and prevent stock weakness from causing a financial crisis between the end of last year and March.