(Nikkei: July 15, 2015 – p. 4)

 The government’s postal privatization committee announced on July 14 that it has started soliciting opinions from the public on the privatization of postal services.

 On July 9, the committee, chaired by former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Hiroya Masuda, was asked by the Financial Services Agency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to conduct research and deliberations on the issue. The committee will use public opinions as reference material for its deliberations. It will also look into the appropriateness of the idea of raising the cap on deposits at Japan Post Bank as proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party.

 The LDP’s proposal is focused on raising the deposit cap at JP Bank from the current 10 million yen to 30 million yen in two years. However, the financial sector is opposed to the idea on the grounds that savings at private-sector financial institutions would be diverted to JP Bank as a result and this would have adverse effects on regional financial systems.