BOJ and JFSA Publish Multiple Regulatory Updates in March 2022

Below are the key highlights of the recent updates:

• JFSA, together with the Bank of Japan (BOJ), conducted a joint survey of financial institutions, including banks, securities companies, and insurance companies, regarding their use of LIBOR. The results highlight that financial institutions will be required to take actions for the transition away from panel-based LIBOR for which the publication was ceased at the end of December 2021. Institutions will be also required to take actions for the transition away from the synthetic USD LIBOR, for which the publication will be ceased at the end of June 2023. JFSA will require financial institutions to take necessary actions, based on the results of this survey, and will continue to monitor the progress in the transition.
• JFSA is consulting on draft amendments to the "Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision of Major Banks, etc," following the revised assessment methodology for identifying G-SIBs, which the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has most recently published. JFSA intends to reflect the revisions on the assessment methodology for identifying domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) in Japan, thereby providing corresponding amendments to the said comprehensive guidelines and other relevant and applicable guidelines. Public comments will be accepted until April 28, 2022.
• JFSA the amendments to the regulatory notices pertaining to leverage ratio requirements and to the regulatory notice pertaining to the disclosure form for G-SIB assessment (Pillar 3). The amendments mainly pertain to take another two-year temporal measure (until the end of March 2024) for excluding the outstanding balance of financial institutions' current accounts at BOJ from the calculation of the leverage ratio exposures. The amendments also include changes to the disclosure form for G-SIB assessment in the capital adequacy ratio regulations (Pillar 3) in accordance with international standards. The amendments took effect on March 31, 2022. 
• Based on results of the BOJ consultation on market functioning survey on climate change, BOJ has decided to revise and conduct the survey annually, with plans to conduct the first annual survey in fiscal 2022. The consultation included proposals related to survey topics, frequency of the survey, and scope of survey respondents. BOJ received comments from 45 entities. 

Keywords: Asia Pacific, Japan, Banking, LIBOR, Interest Rate Benchmarks, Survey Results, Basel, G-SIBs, D-SIBs, Pillar 3, Disclosures, Leverage Ratio, Climate Change Risk, ESG, BOJ, JFSA, Benchmark Reforms