A Financial Services Agency panel released a report Thursday proposing blanket legislation to protect consumers from improper sales and canvassing of investment products.
The move comes at a time when new types of investment tools, including foreign currency margin trading and various investment funds, are emerging in Japan.
According to the report, employees of banks, brokerages and other financial firms are aggressively selling such products without giving consumers a clear explanation of the risks involved.
The panel, the Financial System Council, said in the report that the "investment services law" would regulate high-handed sales of not only conventional investment tools -- including stocks and bonds -- but derivatives, variable annuities and other high-risk investment schemes as well.
"Even though the significance of investment is rising, there has not been any legislation in the country covering all kinds of investment products," said Hideki Kanda, a professor of law at the University of Tokyo who heads the panel.
There are several laws that regulate stocks, futures and commodity funds. But some of the new products fall in between. Many panel members emphasized the need for new rules on bank deposits and life and casualty insurance.
But the report does not include them due to strong objections from the insurance industry, noting the panel should continue discussing the issue.
The panel plans to provide more specifics of its discussions in the fall and make a final report by year's end.
Kanda said he hopes lawmakers submit the bill to the Diet next year.