What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and your legal team have recently been involved in? 

A project was launched to establish a subsidiary of a Japanese company overseas and commence asset management business operations locally. I was involved in this initiative, including the consideration of obtaining asset management licenses from local authorities. As this was the first time that our Japanese legal entity had entered the overseas asset management industry, we carefully discussed and confirmed management policies, intention and future plan of Japan entity, and also frequently communicated with local law firms. Although it was difficult to understand and unravel the licenses and financial regulations related to overseas asset management, it was a valuable opportunity to experience something different from my usual daily work.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

The Financial Services Agency is currently considering revisions to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act in relation to crypto assets. I believe that individual investors are very interested in these developments, and of course, this is a recent trend that is of great interest to Japanese asset management companies. In line with these legal revisions, we will keep abreast of the latest developments and update our internal information so that we can develop new businesses and products that will contribute to our business strategy.