The financial crisis in the U. S beginning from sub-prime mortgage crisis, is giving an
exorbitant change to the whole world economy. Regulatory authorities around the world are
currently discussing ways to prevent another financial crisis. One idea is to separate
supervisory regulations of soundness and consumer protection. Japan's reform of supervisory
regulations on consumer finance in 2009 shows that a comprehensive solution would work
better.
Under the currently ruling regulatory framework the FSA(Financial Services Agency) is an
external organ of the Japanese Cabinet Office and is managed by the Commissioner who is
appointed by the Prime Minister. There is no board or other collective decision making body.
The FSA controls entry into the financial sector for banks, security firms, insurance companies
and financial companies. FSA grants licenses, set bank regulations and supervises banks. It was
only body responsible for financial supervisory in Japan, but it shares supervisory authorities
with Consumer Protection Agency(CPA) since 2009. This Paper studies the recent change of
supervisory regulation on consumer finance in Japan and shows that Japan has chosen a little
different approaches to consumer finance regulation and supervision and ask why Japan made
own choice. Policy makers should learn from Japan's experience by improving the range of
regulatory rules available and setting reasonable supervisory rules for financial consumer
protection.