For Japan in particular, the impact of the negative interest rate policy on the profits of financial institutions tends to be relatively large, due to such factors as the amount outstanding of deposits far exceeding that of lending, and to the spreads between deposits and lending rates already being extremely small following prolonged competition among financial institutions.
As long-term and super-long-term rates have declined significantly since the introduction of the negative interest rate policy, the rates of return on investments of insurance and pension products are expected to decline. Under these circumstances, the sales of some saving-type products are suspended.