Japan introduces working group to examine impact of Facebook’s Libra

Japan is looking to garner greater support due to the wide range of policies which can be affected by digital currencies.

Japanese authorities have reportedly established a working group to discuss the impact Libra digital coin proposed by Facebook can have on financial regulation and monetary policy. The discussion will be arranged before a gathering of G7 finance leaders where the topic is expected to be high on the agenda.

Sources claimed that the working group consists of the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Services Agency and the Bank of Japan. The group has started meeting and will seek to synchronize policies for addressing the impact of Libra on monetary policy, payments settlement, tax and regulation.

Apparently, the Facebook’s intention to create a digital currency has raised concerns amongst global regulators. They have presumed that it can rapidly become systemic given huge cross-border reach of the company.

France has seemingly been employing its presidency of the Group of 7 economic giants to introduce a task force. The new task force will look into the working of central banks to ensure that digital currencies such as Libra are regulated under money-laundering to consumer-protection rules.

Reportedly, Benoit Coeure, the policymaker of European Central Bank, will provide an initial report on the concern at a conference of G7 finance ministers in Chantilly located in north of Paris.

Sources cited that Japan has been expecting to garner support from other nations to develop the task force into a bigger group of financial and tax regulators. The expansion is anticipated due to the broad range of policies which can be influenced by digital currencies.

Apparently, in Japan, the central bank does not supervise banking regulation, which is managed by the Financial Services Agency.

As 2019 chair of the bigger G20 group of key economies, Japan will also explore means to align endeavors made separately by the G20 and G7 to address the policy implications of Libra, sources cited.

Source credit: https://japantoday.com/category/politics/Japan-sets-up-working-group-on-impact-of-Facebook%27s-Libra

https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/japan-sets-up-working-group-on-impact-of-facebooks-libra-ahead-of-g7-6985911.html