A comparison of recent financial reforms in Japan, the United States, and other countries.

摘要

Japan becomes the focus of global investments again after the decade of the economic recession in 90s and early 2000s. The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other major publications all carried numerous articles dealing with this topic. In late 90s, Japan began a wave of financial and corporate reforms to deregulate its business environment. Japanese government liberated and diversified products, business and organization structure. This deregulation greatly assisted the Japanese economy to get out of a long term recession.; The transformation of regulatory structure is timely. Various nations decided to reshuffle and modify their financial regulatory system. Many developed countries move toward a single regulatory agency. For example, Germany created a single financial regulator in May 2002 coinciding with the regional unification of financial supervision under the European Union. On the other hand, the US maintained its own regulatory structure.; A regional unification of supervision of financial markets is evident. In 1989, the European Union issued the Second Banking Directive to introduce the concept of a single banking license and establish mutual recognition. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) enhances the creation and support of cross border financial institutions. While not extensive or developed as the EC and the NAFTA, some countries in East Asia attempting to form a regional group.; These globalization and deregulation trends also prompted the transformation of regulatory system and financial industry in Japan. Financial institutions in Europe and the United States threaten to reduce the share of Japanese financial institutions. The pressure from domestic economic problems and the foreign environment ended up in Japan's Big Bang financial reform.