Japan: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Financial Safety Net and Crisis Readiness

Japan has made progress in improving its crisis readiness since the 2017 FSAP, and the authorities are committed to make further enhancements that are needed. Notably, the authorities have introduced loss absorbing capacity (LAC) requirements, expanded the recovery and resolution planning (RRP) perimeter to some degree, set up the Recovery and Resolution Planning Office (RRP Office), and revised the RRP guidelines for banks and financial market infrastructures (FMIs). They have also continued with annual reviews and updates of existing RRPs, advanced the work in firm-specific crisis management groups (CMGs), contributed to the workings of international standard-setting bodies, and engaged in bilateral workshops with foreign counterparts. These improvements were built on a relatively comprehensive bank resolution regime, but hands-on experience with managing bank failures and financial crises is fading in Japan, while the financial system is evolving and getting more complex, putting a premium on accelerated and expanded crisis readiness efforts.