Japan’s financial supervisor is laying the groundwork for a regulatory overhaul that could lead to a shakeup in the nation’s $10 trillion banking industry.
The Financial Services Agency is examining how to change the legal framework so that all providers of financial services are subject to the same rules -- a move that would allow emerging companies such as technology startups to compete directly with traditional financial institutions. For banks, the revamp could end their monopoly on deposit-taking and lending as well as free them up to enter new businesses.