Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga said Tuesday that his ministry will step up efforts to launch a new authority to watch over financial institutions earlier than currently scheduled.

"The Financial Inspection Agency should start working as soon as possible to make it possible for financial regulators to make a fresh start (after the latest bribery scandal involving ministry bank inspectors)," Matsunaga told a session of the Upper House Budget Committee. The agency, currently scheduled to start operations in June, is designed to remove financial market-related functions from the Finance Ministry.

The separation was decided to reform the ministry, which is widely considered to have excessive discretionary power over fiscal and financial matters. A total of 373 ministry officials in charge of financial market-related functions are currently being moved to a nearby building to launch the inspection agency, Matsunaga said.

During the committee session, which was arranged specifically to discuss matters related to the financial scandal, the Finance Ministry was roundly criticized by both the ruling alliance and the opposition camp. Apologizing again for the affair, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said the current working system of government employees should be drastically reviewed, including the distinction between so-called fast-track "career officials" and "noncareer officials."

Hashimoto criticized a remark by Satoru Kishi, new head of the Federation of Bankers Association of Japan and president of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, accusing him of not being attuned to the situation surrounding the nation's banking industry. Kishi told a press conference Monday that his bank has wined and dined ministry officials "within socially acceptable levels."