Japan FSA Eyeing NISA Expansion to Support Child-Rearing
Tokyo, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Financial Services Agency is aiming to expand the country's Nippon Individual Savings Account tax exemption program for small-lot investments in a way to support families with children.
The envisaged NISA overhaul is part of draft requests that the FSA presented to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday. The requests also include those related to tax system reform for fiscal 2026 and a revamping of the agency's organization.
At the day's meeting of an association of LDP lawmakers working to promote asset management, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads the group, expressed support for the NISA revision, saying, "It's important to support young people and meet the needs of the elderly from the perspective of users.
The FSA will call for a revision of the age limit for installment-type investments under the NISA program. The type of investment is currently available to those aged 18 or over.
The agency also hopes to expand the lineup of financial products for the installment-type investment scheme to meet the needs of various generations, including young people and the elderly.
To support child-rearing, the FSA plans to make permanent the current preferential mechanism of adding 20,000 yen to the income tax deduction limit regarding life insurance premiums for households with dependent members aged under 23.
The agency also plans to revamp its Strategy Development and Management Bureau to create a new bureau in charge of asset management promotion and insurance business supervision. The move is aimed at boosting efforts to foster asset management companies to support asset formation by the public and helping regain trust in the insurance industry, which has been hit by a series of scandals.
The current Supervision Bureau is planned to be converted into the "banking and securities business supervision bureau," which will focus on supervising megabanks, regional banks and securities companies.
The FSA will also create a new senior post for coordination on policies including personnel appointments.
Among other requests is the application of the consolidated taxation system for profits from crypto asset transactions. Currently, the separate taxation system is used for such profits, like for profits from stock trading. If consolidated taxation is applied, the tax rate for crypto asset trading profits may be lowered to 20 pct from the current levels of up to 55 pct.
END
