While it's all fine and good that Japan is finally planning to update its investment management regulations, those affected by the new Investment Services Law worry that the government developed it without consulting financial participants and the result could be full of rough patches. "Our concern" Shoji Suzuki of the Japan Securities Investment Advisers Association, told Finance Asia, "is that there won't be time left once the [Financial Supervisory Agency] makes this law," which may be introduced as early as February. "No one knows the details and so there will be very limited time to understand it all," Suzuki adds, noting that the legislation has the feel of something being rushed into law.
The new law, which supposedly is modeled after the U.K.'s Financial Services Markets Act, will streamline the system by among other things, eliminating the need for separate licenses for investment advisers and investment trust managers.