The Financial Services Agency said the ordinance took effect on August 6, 2026 to ease borrowing procedures for disaster victims and other borrowers under exceptions to Japan’s total lending cap.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency announced and enforced a partial amendment to the Cabinet Office Ordinance implementing the Money Lending Business Act on August 6, 2026, aiming to remove procedural barriers that could prevent victims of the 2026 Kumamoto earthquake from accessing funds they would otherwise be eligible to borrow. The agency said the lending rules are designed to protect borrowers, including by preventing excessive debt, but that emergency conditions could make it difficult for affected people to prepare required documents even when the intended borrowing would not exceed their repayment capacity. The changes make borrowing procedures more flexible in four areas: loans for expenses recognized as urgently necessary under social norms, which are exempt from the total lending cap; borrowing procedures for sole proprietors under an exemption; procedures for cash advances using a credit limit method within the total lending cap; and procedures when annual income is calculated by combining a borrower’s income with a spouse’s income under an exemption. The FSA (Japan financial regulator) said it did not conduct a public comment process because the ordinance fell under the Administrative Procedure Act provision allowing emergency rulemaking in the public interest when standard procedures are difficult to carry out.