I have not addressed this area partly due to its technical nature, but recently several developments have attracted much attention to the payment and settlement issues in Japan, as in other countries: specifically, pilot projects of electronic money products and the Bank’s plans to abolish the designated-time settlement mode to make real-time gross settlement the only way of settlement on the Bank of Japan Financial Network System (BOJ-NET).
The role of the central bank in ensuring a smooth and stable operation of payment and settlement systems has become clearly recognized through the deliberations on the revision of the Bank of Japan Law that have been taking place since last year.