Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency

The head of the Financial Services Agency (金融庁), which the Act for Establishment of the Financial Services Agency (金融庁設置法) sets up as an external agency (外局) of the Cabinet Office — an agency attached to it, with a head of its own (Article 2). The Agency's mission is to keep Japan's financial system stable, to protect depositors, insurance policyholders, investors in securities and people in a like position, and to help finance flow smoothly (Article 3, paragraph (1)). The Banking Act hands the Prime Minister's (内閣総理大臣) powers under it to the Commissioner, except those a Cabinet Order (政令) keeps back, and lets the Commissioner, as a Cabinet Order provides, pass some of them on to the directors of the Local Finance Bureaus and Local Finance Branch Bureaus (財務局長, 財務支局長) (Banking Act, Article 59).