Banking Act

• A bank must be a stock company (株式会社) with a board of directors, a board of company auditors or one of the committee structures the Companies Act allows, and an accounting auditor, and its capital must be at least an amount a Cabinet Order sets, which may not be less than 1 billion yen. It may carry on only the business the Act lists — deposits, loans, funds transfers, the incidental business of Article 10(2) such as guarantees, dealing in securities and safe custody, the business of Article 11 — and business other Acts allow it.(Art. 4-2(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 5(2), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 12(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Toward depositors (預金者等) a bank must provide information on the terms of deposit contracts, other than for specified deposits (特定預金等), and other information useful to them; it must also explain the important matters of its business to customers and handle customer information properly, as a Cabinet Office Order sets out. It must not tell a customer anything false or present an uncertain matter as certain. Nor may it make giving credit conditional on the customer doing business with the bank, its specified related parties (特定関係者) or others a Cabinet Office Order counts as closely related to it, unless a Cabinet Office Order finds no risk to the customer, or do anything else a Cabinet Office Order names as likely to leave customers unprotected.(Art. 12-2(1), Art. 12-2(2), Art. 13-3(1)(i), Art. 13-3(1)(ii), Art. 13-3(1)(iii), Art. 13-3(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For specified deposits (特定預金等) — deposits a Cabinet Office Order names whose principal can be lost through changes in interest rates, currency values or market prices — many conduct rules of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (金融商品取引法), a separate Act, apply to the bank, among them its rules on information before the contract, its ban on making good customers' losses (Article 39) and its rule on written cancellation (Article 37-6). What those rules require, and which contracts the cancellation rule reaches, that separate Act sets out.(Art. 13-4(1), Art. 61(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Every business year a bank must file business reports with the Prime Minister and publish its balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement within three months of the end of the half-year and of the year, unless it files annual securities reports under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. It must also keep explanatory documents on its business and finances at its offices for anyone to inspect.(Art. 19(1), Art. 20(4), Art. 20(7), Art. 21(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a designated dispute resolution organisation (指定紛争解決機関) for banking exists, a bank must sign a contract with one and publish its name; where none exists, it must instead take complaint-handling measures and resolve disputes with customers through a certified out-of-court dispute resolution procedure (認証紛争解決手続), which a separate Act governs, or an equivalent measure a Cabinet Office Order sets. A customer may bring a complaint or a dispute about the bank to the designated organisation, and the bank may not refuse to take part without good reason; the mediators (紛争解決委員) may decline a dispute they find unsuited to the procedure, for example because the customer can resolve it adequately on their own, or one brought for an improper purpose, and the customer is told why. A special conciliation proposal (特別調停案) from the mediators binds the bank unless the customer rejects it, or a lawsuit on the claim is brought, or kept going, within one month of the bank learning that the customer accepted it, or the parties agree to arbitration or settle another way in that month.(Art. 12-3(1)(i), Art. 12-3(1)(ii), Art. 12-3(2), Art. 52-67(2), Art. 52-67(6), Art. 52-72(1), Art. 52-73(1), Art. 52-73(4), Art. 52-73(5)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 12 August 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act

  金融商品取引法及び資金決済に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 64 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 23 July 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act

  金融商品取引法及び資金決済に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 64 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 January 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures

  地球温暖化対策の推進に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 56 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Civil Procedures, etc.

  民事関係手続等における情報通信技術の活用等の推進を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 53 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (extract)

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律　抄

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, etc.

  金融商品取引法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 79 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 November 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, etc.

  金融商品取引法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 79 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, etc.

  金融商品取引法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 79 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society, etc. to Promote Regulatory Reform for the Formation of a Digital Society

  デジタル社会の形成を図るための規制改革を推進するためのデジタル社会形成基本法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 63 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 February 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, etc.

  金融商品取引法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 79 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 36 amendments already in force

• The national and local governments, and bodies a Cabinet Order treats as their equals, need not file the 5% notice and need no authorisation to become a bank's major shareholder.(Art. 52-2-11(1), Art. 52-9(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• When a bank merges, splits, or transfers or takes over all or part of a business, it need not send depositors (預金者等) the individual notice inviting objections that known creditors are otherwise sent. In a split, the Companies Act (会社法) rule that lets a creditor who got no such notice claim payment from either company, up to the value of the assets that company had or took over, does not apply to a depositor.(Art. 33(1), Art. 33-2(1), Art. 33-2(2), Art. 34(1), Art. 35(1), Companies Act Art. 759(2), Companies Act Art. 759(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Shareholders of a bank cannot use the Companies Act's right to inspect a company's account books: it does not apply to a bank's books and related materials.(Art. 23(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Banks, and other financial businesses a Cabinet Order names, may run bank agency services without a licence by filing the application details with the Prime Minister, unless they are registered for deposit intermediary business (預金等媒介業務) under a separate Act on financial services (金融サービスの提供及び利用環境の整備等に関する法律); most of the rules for bank agents then apply to them.(Art. 52-60-2(1), Art. 52-60-2(2), Art. 52-60-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a bank acts as agent for a foreign bank with the Prime Minister's authorisation or on notification, that foreign bank needs no Japanese licence for the deposit and funds-transfer business done through the agency.(Art. 52-2-2(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For a foreign bank's branches licensed in Japan, the rules on a bank being dissolved when its licence is revoked, on the Prime Minister's orders after banking is given up, and on liquidators (Articles 40, 43 and 44) do not apply. Instead, when the licence is revoked, or lapses in the cases Article 51 lists, the branches must liquidate all their assets in Japan, with a liquidator the court appoints at the request of an interested party or the Prime Minister, or on its own initiative.(Art. 47(2), Art. 51(1), Art. 51(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• Most powers under the Act belong to the Prime Minister, who delegates them — except those a Cabinet Order keeps back — to the Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency (金融庁長官). The Commissioner may pass part of them on to the Directors-General of Local Finance Bureaus (財務局長) and Local Finance Branch Bureaus (財務支局長), as a Cabinet Order provides.(Art. 59(1), Art. 59(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where needed for sound banking, the Prime Minister may require a bank or its bank agents to report on their business and finances, and may send officials to enter their offices, question them and inspect their books; where especially necessary, also the bank's subsidiaries and contractors, who may refuse for good reason. Refusing, obstructing or answering falsely is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 3 million yen.(Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2), Art. 24(3), Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 63(1)(ii), Art. 63(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a bank's business or finances make it necessary, the Prime Minister may demand an improvement plan, suspend all or part of its business for a set period, or order other supervisory measures. Where a bank breaks a law, its articles of incorporation or an order, or harms the public interest, the Prime Minister may suspend its business, order a director or auditor dismissed, or revoke its licence; a suspension or revocation is announced in the Official Gazette (官報). The Prime Minister has the same kind of powers — reports, inspection, improvement orders, suspension, and revoking the licence or cancelling the registration — over bank agents, electronic payment handling service providers and electronic payment service providers.(Art. 26(1), Art. 27(1), Art. 28(1), Art. 56(1)(i), Art. 56(1)(ii), Art. 52-53(1), Art. 52-54(1), Art. 52-55(1), Art. 52-56(1), Art. 52-60-20(1), Art. 52-60-21(1), Art. 52-60-22(1), Art. 52-60-23(1), Art. 52-61-14(1), Art. 52-61-15(1), Art. 52-61-16(1), Art. 52-61-17(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a bank, a bank agent or an electronic payment handling service provider tells a customer something false in order to benefit someone other than the customer, or to harm the customer, the person who did it commits a crime punishable by up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑), a fine of up to 1 million yen, or both, and the company may be fined up to 200 million yen. An electronic payment handling service provider may not take customers' money or other property on deposit in that business, or have a closely related party a Cabinet Order names take it, except where a Cabinet Office Order finds little risk to customers; breaking this carries the same personal penalty, and a fine of up to 100 million yen for the company.(Art. 13-3(1)(i), Art. 52-45(1)(i), Art. 52-60-16(1)(i), Art. 63-2(1)(i), Art. 63-2(1)(iii), Art. 64(1)(ii), Art. 52-60-13(1), Art. 63-2(1)(ii), Art. 64(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A bank whose licence is revoked is dissolved, and its winding-up is supervised by the district court for its head office, which appoints the liquidator. If a bank gives up all of its banking with deposits still owed, the Prime Minister may, except in cases a Cabinet Order sets, order it — until the deposits are repaid or for up to ten years, whichever ends first — to lodge assets up to the amount owed, and give orders to protect depositors.(Art. 40(1), Art. 44(1), Art. 45(1), Art. 45(2), Art. 41(1)(i), Art. 43(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Carrying on banking or bank agency services without a licence, or electronic payment services (電子決済等代行業) without registration, or getting such a licence or registration by deceit, is punishable by up to three years' imprisonment (拘禁刑), a fine of up to 3 million yen, or both. Becoming, or setting up, a holding company of a bank without the Prime Minister's authorisation is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to 3 million yen, or both; breaking a suspension order, by up to two years or 3 million yen. A company whose staff commits such an offence in its business is fined as well — up to 300 million yen for breaking a suspension order or the ban on making good customers' losses.(Art. 61(1)(i), Art. 61(1)(ii), Art. 61(1)(v), Art. 61(1)(vi), Art. 61(1)(viii), Art. 61(1)(xi), Art. 61(1)(xii), Art. 61-2(1)(i), Art. 62(1)(ii), Art. 64(1)(i), Art. 64(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Directors, managers and other officers of a bank who, for example, cut its capital or change its name without approval, carry on business outside what it may do, or fail to make a notification the Act requires, face a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 1 million yen. So does a shareholder (for a company, its officers) who fails to file the 5% notice or becomes a major shareholder without authorisation, and anyone who is not a bank and uses a name showing it to be one.(Art. 65(1)(i), Art. 65(1)(iii), Art. 65(1)(iv), Art. 65(1)(xiii), Art. 65(1)(xiv), Art. 66(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A bank is liable for damage its bank agent does to a customer in acting as its agent, unless the bank took due care in commissioning the agent (or in approving a sub-agent) and tried to prevent such damage (Article 52-59). A depositor or other interested person who needs to may ask the bank to see its register of its agents (Article 52-60). If the mediators end a dispute procedure because settlement is unlikely, the party who brought it, if they sue on the claim within one month of being told, is treated for limitation as having sued when the claim was made in the procedure (Article 52-74).(Art. 52-59(1), Art. 52-59(2)(i), Art. 52-59(2)(ii), Art. 52-60(2), Art. 52-74(1)) (the provisions it rests on)