Furthermore, financial institutions have now nearly overcome the NPL problem, and from April 2005 the blanket guarantee of deposits was fully lifted without any disruption. Considering this situation, in order to promote the sound development of the Japanese economy, I think it is appropriate to shift the main focus of policies regarding the financial system from crisis management to strengthening the financial function.
Enhancement of financial functioning is strongly needed also in retail financial services. For example, complicated financial products that require a high level of knowledge are increasing. In this situation, financial institutions are expected to fulfill their function by providing individuals with easy-tounderstand product information, and adequately transforming complicated products into easily understood ones.