The Financial Services Agency is taking a hard look at legal changes that would allow it to order financial institutions to suspend operations if they are found to have used customer information for nonbusiness purposes or fail to take proper steps to prevent such leakage, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The FSA hopes to put the new rules into effect in April by amending insurance and other laws, the sources said.
The plan was endorsed the same day by a subcommittee of the Financial System Council, an advisory panel to the financial services minister.
The penalty would be implemented if financial institutions leak or improperly handle such personal information as registered addresses, health records, loan amounts, political beliefs and fingerprints.