Attachment 1
May 20, 2015
Galvanizing the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market through the dual listing of foreign-currency municipal bonds of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Yoichi Masuzoe
Governor of Tokyo
Tokyo used to be a global financial center on the same level as New York and London. But the past two decades of recession have diminished Japan’s global presence.
In order to put Japan back on the path to growth it would first be necessary to turn Tokyo—the engine driving the Japanese economy—into a “global economic city” that gathers investment, talent and information from all over the world.
With the attention of the world focused on Tokyo in the run up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, I believe we now have the golden opportunity to achieve this. The Initiatives for the Tokyo Global Financial Center, which I announced last year, received the strong support of the central government and the business world, and “all-Japan” system to back this up has been established. I would like to significantly raise the presence of Tokyo in the area of finance, the life blood of economy.
The Initiatives for the Tokyo Global Financial Center includes a broad range of efforts, one of which is dual listing of foreign-currency bonds of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market. The TOKYO PRO-BOND Market, which has recently been established, offers the flexible and timely issuance of bonds. It is believed that the promotion of this market in Japan and overseas will significantly contribute to the future revitalization of Tokyo.
To this end, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has now issued foreign-currency bonds and conducted dual listing on the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market as well. We have been issuing foreign-currency bonds since 1964, the year of the last Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, but up to now they have been listed only on foreign stock exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange. This is the first listing of Eurodollar bonds for the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market since the market was established in 2011. In addition to investor confidence in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the proactive efforts we have taken, such as listing the bonds on the Market, have raised the interest of investors, resulting in sufficient demand. The investors have also positively appraised this new attempt.
Following this bond issue, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to continue using the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market to issue foreign-currency bonds. We also anticipate that this will serve as an opportunity to galvanize the TOKYO PRO-BOND Market as a market that satisfies a range of domestic and foreign needs, and help Tokyo to grow into a center of financing and investment.
As the leader of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which handles the management of the metropolis that is Tokyo, I will continue to work vigorously to prepare the stage for Tokyo’s brilliant role as a global financial center.
