IBA Japan Newsletter
18 August 2026
Newsletter Index
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Latest FSA Weekly Review Links
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New Member Announcements
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MetLife Investment Management Japan, Ltd. joins the International Bankers Association of Japan
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Chuo Sogo LPC joins the International Bankers Association of Japan
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Members Insights
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ISC2 Develops New AI Security Certification, Opens Call for Volunteers
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Cybersecurity Issues and Countermeasures in Crypto-Asset-Related Businesses (30 June)
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Articles of Interest
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FSA consultation: cyber incident reporting under the supervisory guidelines (7 Aug)
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FSA organisational reorganisation, effective 7 August (5 Aug)
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SESC Securities Monitoring Policy for the 2026 programme year (31 Jul)
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Latest FSA Weekly Review: |
· FSA Weekly Review No.698 (Aug 04, 2026)
· FSA Weekly Review No.699 (Aug 10, 2026)
*The FSA has added an AI-powered English translation option on its Japanese website, excluding PDFs and older pages. The Japanese text remains the official version
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New Member Announcements
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MetLife Investment Management Japan, Ltd. joins the International Bankers Association of Japan
As IBA Japan's asset management membership continues to grow, we are pleased to welcome MetLife Investment Management Japan, Ltd.
MetLife Investment Management, LLC and certain of its affiliates (MIM), the institutional asset management business of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), provides tailored investment management solutions to institutional investors worldwide. MIM has global expertise in public fixed income, private fixed income, real estate, equity, alternatives, multi-asset, and insurance solutions and provides public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, funds and other institutional clients with a range of bespoke investment solutions that seek to meet a range of long-term investment objectives and risk-adjusted returns over time. As of March 31, 2026, MIM had $736.3 billion in total assets under management. For more information, see MIM's Total Assets Under Management fact sheet for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 available on MetLife's Investor Relations web page (https://investor.metlife.com).
MIM's heritage in insurance investing brings particular depth in institutional and long-horizon strategies, and it is a welcome addition to IBA Japan's asset management community.
We look forward to the perspective MetLife Investment Management Japan brings to our membership.
Please join us in welcoming MetLife Investment Management Japan, Ltd. to IBA Japan.
Chuo Sogo LPC joins the International Bankers Association of Japan
Chuo Sogo is a Japanese full-service firm working from Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, and is well established in the financial sector. It advises on banking and finance, acquisition finance, project finance, insurance and reinsurance, securities and derivatives, investment funds and asset management, structured finance and securitization, digital assets (crypto assets and stablecoins), and financial services litigation, together with the related compliance, AML/CFT and data privacy matters.
Its regulatory practice also draws on many years of seconding lawyers to the Financial Services Agency, including the banking, insurance and securities supervision divisions, the policy planning division for financial markets, the Financial Market Entry Office, and the AML/CFT division.
We look forward to the perspective Chuo Sogo brings to our membership, and to the discussions ahead.
Please join us in welcoming Chuo Sogo to the membership.
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Members Insights
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ISC2 Develops New AI Security Certification, Opens Call for Volunteers
ISC2 has announced the development of a new vendor-neutral certification in AI security and is inviting cybersecurity professionals worldwide to help shape it. The certification responds to the growing need for a recognised standard as organisations adopt AI across business and security operations, and will cover areas such as risk management, secure-by-design methodology, data protection, and governance.
Members may find this relevant both as a way to benchmark their own AI security knowledge and as a reference point for team capability and hiring needs. Professionals can contribute through surveys, workshops, and exam development, and the pilot exam is expected by the end of 2026.
Further details and participation options are available here:
ENG: https://www.isc2.org/insights/2026/07/ai-security-certification-development
JP: https://japan.isc2.org/Press_Release_2026/For%20Web_NR_AI%20Certificate%20Development_JP_Final.html
Cybersecurity Issues and Countermeasures in Crypto-Asset-Related Businesses (30 June)
Deloitte Tohmatsu LLC has published a research paper titled "Cybersecurity Issues and Countermeasures in Crypto-Asset-Related Businesses", dated 30 June 2026 and available on the FSA website. The paper was prepared as commissioned research, drawing on input from the FSA, the Bank of Japan, the Digital Agency and industry participants. It relates to the FSA's April 2026 "Policy for Strengthening Cybersecurity in Crypto-Asset Exchange Services" and is intended to inform future revisions to the supervisory guidelines.
The paper examines cyberattacks on centralised exchanges and decentralised finance (DeFi) services, with particular attention to risks arising from third-party outsourcing. It reviews domestic and international incident case studies, compares the vulnerabilities observed against existing standards, and identifies five priority areas: third-party risk management, prevention of malicious code injection or program tampering, prevention of unauthorised transfers of crypto-assets, measures for smart contracts and DeFi, and greater use of external assessments.
The full research paper can be found on the FSA website (ENG): https://www.fsa.go.jp/policy/bgin/ResearchPaper_dtc_20260630_en.pdf
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Articles of Interest |
FSA consultation: cyber incident reporting under the supervisory guidelines (7 Aug)
The FSA has opened a public consultation on draft amendments to the 主要行等向けの総合的な監督指針 (Comprehensive Guidelines for Supervision of Major Banks, etc.) and related guidelines.
The change would move reporting of computer system failures and cybersecurity incidents from the FSA's current forms to new government-wide common forms, in line with a planned revision of the relevant inter-ministerial agreement. This adds a common form for other cyberattack incidents alongside the existing DDoS and ransomware forms.
The consultation closes on 7 September 2026, with the amendments due to take effect thereafter. Supervised institutions should expect to update their incident reporting procedures accordingly.
Please refer to the FSA's official release for further details (JP only): https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r8/sonota/20260807-2/20260807-2.html
JFSA organisational reorganisation, effective 7 August (5 Aug)
The FSA reorganised its structure on 7 August under a partial amendment to the Order for Organisation of the FSA, in support of priorities including the "Asset Management Nation" (資産運用立国) initiative, digital finance, and more sophisticated monitoring.
Key changes:
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The 総合政策局 (Strategy Development and Management Bureau) and 監督局 (Supervision Bureau) have become two supervision bureaus: 銀行・証券監督局 (Banking and Securities Business Supervision Bureau) and 資産運用・保険監督局 (Asset Management and Insurance Business Supervision Bureau).
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A new 次長 (Director-General for Operations) post leads agency-wide planning and coordination, and five new divisions have been created, including 資金決済課 (Payment Services Division) and 暗号資産・ステーブルコイン課 (Crypto-Asset and Stablecoin Division).
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Documents using former bureau or division names remain valid, and submissions made on or after 7 August under the former names will still be accepted.
For the full structure, the list of new divisions and the before-and-after mapping for submissions, please refer to the FSA's official announcement (JP only): https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r8/20260805.html
An updated "List of FSA Executives" (as of 7 August) has also been published alongside the reorganisation:
SESC Securities Monitoring Policy for the 2026 programme year (31 Jul)
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) has published its 証券モニタリング基本方針 (Securities Monitoring Policy) for the 2026 programme year (July 2026 to June 2027).
Across all business types, the SESC will focus on conduct in customers' best interests and suitability in solicitation, system risk management (including cybersecurity and the evolving threat picture associated with frontier AI), AML/CFT controls, and the effectiveness of internal control systems. For foreign securities firms, the stated focus remains offshore back-office outsourcing, system risk management and the sales management of products offered to Japanese financial institutions.
The priorities for foreign firms appear broadly consistent with last year, with the main movement in the cross-cutting themes, notably the added emphasis on cyber resilience in light of frontier AI.
For the full detail, please refer to the SESC's official document (Full Document in JP and ENG Summary available): https://www.fsa.go.jp/sesc/news/c_2026/2026/20260731-2.html
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