Japan working group discusses impact of Facebook’s Libra

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese authorities have set up a working group to discuss the impact Facebook’s proposed Libra digital coin could have on monetary policy and financial regulation, government sources said, ahead of a G7 finance leaders’ gathering where the topic will be high on the agenda. The working group, consisting of the Bank of Japan, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency, began meeting this week and will seek to coordinate policies to address the impact Libra could have on regulation, monetary policy, tax and payments settlement, the sources said. In Japan, the central bank does not oversee banking regulation, which is handled by the Financial Services Agency. As this year’s chair of the bigger G20 group of major economies, Japan will also look at ways to align efforts made separately by the G7 and G20 to address the policy implications of Libra, the officials said. They also urged regulators including the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to advise the G20 on multilateral responses to the growing presence of crypto-assets.